The Era of the Shinigami
by Thugs Bunny 009
Summary: Three hundred years have passed but the ancestral son of the most powerful being to ever grace the Worlds with his presence alone has been alive since. He's watched his close relatives and friends die but it hasn't weakened his resolve to find true peace for himself. Join the immortal one as he bids to step out of Raizen's shadow and find a place where he can truly call home.
1. Clean Up in Aisle Seven

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Bleach**

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**The Era of the Shinigami **

**Chapter One**

**Clean Up In Aisle Seven**

"Ahhh. Immortality, it's as glamorous as the tooth fairies make it out to be." Observed the 20 year old looking widowed Yuusuke Urameshi, half human, half Mazoku, the most powerful demon race to ever exist, ancestral son of the strongest demon of all time in the now deceased Raizen, and former husband of the now deceased Keiko.

The former delinquent-once-turned-spirit-detective man had been alive for over three hundred years, watching the world advance while his human relatives, friends, and wife grew old before dying on their death beds. His mother's and wife's deaths hurt him the most but Kuwabara's and Genkai's deaths left their own emotional voids in his heart.

So this left the immortal one travelling around the world in an endless, infinite search of peace. He would find a place to live for roughly thirty years or so, but eventually move on before the people he saw on a day by day basis would eventually head to their own ding-dong days. It would just be too painful for the immortal one to have to endure the once little squirts he knew withering away into nothingness, while he sauntered on around the world, never dying, but never finding true happiness.

At often times the half demon would spend a few years in Makai (the demon world) with his other demon friends, Hiei and Kurama, ones he'd met when he was still a newbie in training working for that runt Koemna. The other reason Yuusuke spent his vacation years in Makai was to avenge the loss he suffered to one of the former demon-kings in Yomi, still sore knowing how Yomi had schooled him in their first fight and even weakened himself to fight Yuusuke evenly.

To this day, Yuusuke had yet to catch up to Yomi who had oceans and oceans of more Yoki (demon energy) in comparison to the amount of reiki (spirit energy) Yuusuke packed. Still it was fun challenging Yomi with Yomi's son Shura, who developed a brotherly/rivalry relationship with Yuusuke Urameshi over the course of three hundred years.

Within that time the Spirit World had adapted and formed an alliance with the Soul Society, a place where souls were located on Southern Japan and go when they pass on. Both the Spirit world and the Soul Society were once in conflict with each other since they both had different ways of going about their duties to carry souls over to heaven and purify the demonic-creatures stalking around the world.

Southern Japan had they own demonic creatures known as Hollows which were once humans turned into hollows due to lingering around the world for too long, thus becoming a earthbound ghoul. Once becoming a earthbound ghoul the chains on their chests would eventually wither away, resulting in them becoming hollows, unless other hollows devoured them first which in that case the human-souls would become hollows regardless.

The Soul Society's method for dealing with the wandering hollows was by offering it a chance at redemption, to cleanse its soul and send it over to heaven as a pure human-spirit it once was. The Spirit World's method was outright obliteration of the hollows, which disrupted the balance between souls of the living world and the Spirit World.

The controversy waged on for many years and was only settled once both sides agreed just to stay out of each other's way, the Spirit world would deal with the demons slithering around Northern Japan and the Soul Society would take care of the hollows stalking Southern Japan.

The situation worked until the demons found peace with the humans of Northern Japan thanks to Yuusuke and the boys' performance in the first of many (Demon World) Makai-tournaments to decide who the new ruler of Makai should be. They stayed put in Makai to avoid confusion and panic spreading out among the humans of Northern Japan to see demons walking near them like it was an everyday occurrence. And the demons even helped out any human who mistakenly wandered into Makai by erasing their memories and dropping them back into the human world.

The problem came with the hollows, because demons rarely stepped foot into the human world they got the bright idea to infiltrate Northern Japan and snack on the humans around that area. This angered the Spirit World greatly, resulting in major controversy. One side would argue how the Soul Society should be more competent by keeping their responsibility in their own turf. The other side would counter how the Spirit world should be more than capable enough to send a few hollows back into their turf.

It was an endless cycle until a certain someone born in the district of Northern Japan suggested how the Soul Society should take charge of both Northern Japan and Southern Japan since demons weren't in the picture anymore and the Spirit World didn't have nearly enough trained warriors to send out to purify hollows.

Koenma tried to argue that they did and even offered Yuusuke his job back as a spirit detective, but the rebellious half demon turned down the offer, insisting how he was happy with his life.

The argument was settled. And now the Shinigami patrol both Northern Japan and Southern Japan.

Not that it bothered Yuusuke who was content to saunter around the world, setting up new ramen stands, passing them on in the different countries he encountered on his endless travels, and repeat the process all over again.

Yuusuke sighed in a blissful manner with a grin on his face. It was a never ending cycle.

XxX

Like now, he had returned to the place of his birth and had been staying there for over twenty years now, although he had taken a short trip to China where he had trained with his friends who had gone back to Demon-World for the time being.

With his ever gelled/combed back hair, his brown eyes, and tan skin he panned his head up to take in a breath of air, reminiscing as he treaded on the pavement of Karakura Town.

"Nostalgia's the number one drug on the market for me," Yuusuke commented with a grin on his face and one hand held over his shoulder to hold his sack bag. He had a Chinese style straw hat on his head. He wore a green sleeveless Chinese top over a black t shirt. His black pants were kept up by a yellow obi and his feet were covered by wooden sandals. The most distinctive trait about Yuusuke was his wolf-like fangs, two of which were longer than the others and hung over his top lip.

"Hey, there's the old prison I used to call school," Yuusuke laughed out loud as he past his old school ground which was there no more, now replaced by a new school with kids rushing out of there. "Eh. Not exactly Sarayashiki Junior High school anymore." In-fact the 'new' school which was built after the old one was knocked down one hundred years ago was now called Karakura High School, named after the town.

"I wonder if the teachers have submitted themselves in an asylum yet. I can betcha my ones did," Yuusuke said idly, a smirk of mischievousness crossing his lips, "I wonder if the squirt is as much as a troublemaker as I was back in my day. Heh. I'll check if he's in." Yuusuke closed his eyes, distinguishing the boy's reiki among others, only it wasn't in Karakura High School and it was a lot stronger than Yuusuke had remembered it to be since he last saw the boy.

"Ah, someone's playing hooky I see," Yuusuke smirked, casually sauntering past the school before he whistled a loud, "The twerp's got some power though, way more than I had when I was his age. I wonder where he got all that spirit energy from?" Eventually Yuusuke shrugged.

He would pay the boy and his family a visit later. Yuusuke had a close bond with the boy's mother, to the point where she saw him as an older brother.

Yuusuke took a stroll down to the high street with his left hand tucked into his pocket and right hand holding his sack-bag over his shoulder. Upon making it to the high street Yuusuke found the first ATM machine he could find and withdrew some money from it. He had saved up enough money to last him a decent while now.

Once he had his money, he headed over to a local supermarket to grab himself some groceries, "Now let's see. What should I throw together and whip up today?" Yuusuke pondered to himself, picking up a basket by the door and proceeding to waltz on in through the automatic doors.

The cold air of the store's air-conditioning felt refreshing to Yuusuke while he contently made his way through the aisle before snapping his fingers, "Ah. I know, I'll have a Sesame Soba Salad. Haha. Momma always said I should eat healthy," Yuusuke referenced his dead mother in a quip, a peaceful expression on his face as he remembered his mother briefly.

"Yep, besides whoever heard of a hero stuffing junk food down his throat?" Yuusuke asked rhetorically, using the silence as his answer despite not having asked anyone in particular, "I thought not." Yuusuke grinned satisfyingly, collecting the ingredients he'd need to prepare his meal tonight along with some other groceries, such as fruits and vegetables, some frozen food in case he got too lazy to cook and a few unhealthy snacks in case he got the munchies later.

"Meh. I ain't no hero," Yuusuke said, sauntering over to the counter. Once his food was paid for, he placed his goods in his sack bag and walked out of the store. His eyes narrowed at a couple of guys having a conversation, one of which was staring at the sky oddly.

"Dude I'm telling you the sky's cracking!"

The sky was cracking? That didn't sound right.

"…You're probably just imagining things dude."

"No! I'm not! I'm telling you the sky splitting apart!"

"Keep your voice down! You're making a scene!"

"Oh right. My bad!"

'The sky's coming apart like a broken window? That doesn't sound too good,' Yuusuke mused to himself with a grim expression on his face. Turning around, the half demon looked up, his eyes widening at the sight of the sky tearing itself apart, 'Well that doesn't look pleasant.'

Yuusuke didn't get the time to spectate further as a bunch of creatures with coal-skins, white masks concealing their faces, and holes where their hearts should be spewed out of the hole and rained down to earth.

"I take it they're not coming down for a party," Yuusuke gasped at the hollows, 'Some nutter must've called 'em here.' This scenario reminded Yuusuke of the time Suzaku controlled dozens of demons and sent them to the human world to infect humans, thus making them his slaves.

Only these bad-boys (hollows) were going to outright devour the humans of the world.

'Guess It's clean up time,' Yuusuke quipped before closing his eyes, sensing for distinctive reiki-signatures he had come to know over the twenty two years he had lived in Karakura Town, minus the three years he had been living in China, 'Shit. The squirts are out in the frying pan right now. I better see to it that they're alright.' With that Yuusuke disappeared from sight as if he had teleported, several gawking eyes on the spot where he had once stood.

"Yeah, I'm gonna pretend like I never just saw that."

XxX

"I swear I'm gonna kill that Uryu when I find him!" An enraged orange haired boy shouted, wearing a black shihakusho with a pair of geta-sandals on his feet, a white sash tied around his waist, a large scabbard on his back and a massive broadsword in his hand. He abruptly used his broadsword to slice a hollow in two, cleansing its soul.

He shook his head in defiance, "I can worry about shoving my foot up (in) his ass later. Right now I gotta find Karin!"

With that he stomped off to look for his little sister.

XxX

***STOMP. STOMP. STOMP. STOMP. STOMP**.*

"Ayaaaaa!" A little brown haired girl screamed as she fell on her backside with a brown bag full of groceries in her grip.

A bang of her light brown hair covered the right side of her forehead and a strawberry-style hairclip was clipped on the left side of her hair. She was wearing a green dress reaching her knees, a black handbag dangling from her shoulder, and a couple of sandals on her feet.

"W-whose t-there? P-Please d-don't hurt me," The young girl stammered fearfully, crawling away desperately from a blur which roared monstrously.

"**I'm gonna eat ya up little girl!" **

The girl could hear the creature's voice faintly, whimpering while tears built up inside of her eyes. With every step the invisible creature took it created mini tremors which quaked the ground. The girl's cheeks became wet with tears, she was really going to die, and upset her family, her momma, her daddy, her twin sister, her brother… everyone was going to be sad because of her death.

"No, please don't hurt me!" The girl cried pleadingly, closing her eyes and clamping her hands onto her head as if it would really shield her from the approaching creature, "Please I haven't done anything to you!"

"**Don't care! Need to feast!"**

"Ayaaaa!"

"Hey, buddy, if ya want something to snack on then feast on this!"

The brown haired girl let out a gasp, recognizing the distinctive masculine voice, "Is that…" She trailed off, opening her eyes to see a fist in place of where the blur was, a sated snicker ringing through the air. The girl slowly rotated her head in the direction of the voice, gasping with her eyes wide and watering in happiness.

The man was crouched a few feet away from her, giving her a grin and a thumbs-up as if to confirm she was really seeing who she thought she was seeing. The girl's lips quivered as salty tears ran down her cheeks, a soft murmur escaping her lips.

"Yuusuke-ojisama…"

"In the flesh, how've you been Princess?" Yuusuke asked wittily, blinking his eyes once he noticed the girl's tears fall lifelessly to the dirt ground, "Hey, c'mon Yuzu-chan, turn off the waterworks. You're gonna make an old man feel bad ya' know," Yuusuke told her jestingly, looking at the now identified Yuzu Kurosaki in confusion as she stood up.

"Yuusuke-ojisama!"

"Wah!" Yuusuke sputtered out in surprised as Yuzu jumped down on him, wrapping her arms around his neck and crying on his shoulder.

"I thought you weren't going to come back after you left three years ago; why didn't you come back earlier, you big jerk?" Yuzu cried, sniffing on Yuusuke's shoulder. Yuusuke smiled warmly at her, softly massaging her hair.

"Princess," Yuusuke whispered, Yuzu looking at him with red puffing eyes, "Look, I'm here now, all in one piece. There's no need to cry," Yuusuke wiped Yuzu's tears away with his thumb in a way only a loving uncle would do for his niece, "So save the tears for your future husband, okay kiddo? I'm sure tons of boys must be hightailing it after your skirt. Eh! Am I right or what Princess?"

"Yuusuke-ojisama!" Yuzu chided her uncle with two bright red circles on her cheeks, making him laugh.

"Meh. I'm just pulling ya leg Princess," Yuusuke stated, hopping up to his feet and holding his hand out for Yuzu to take, to which the girl happily took and was helped up to her feet. Yuzu nodded her head, looking up at her uncle with a smile on her face.

"When'd you get back into town Yuusuke-ojisama? You should've phoned. I would've made my speciality just for you." Yuzu told him happily.

"Not long actually," Yuusuke replied simply, scratching his cheek idly, "It's a good thing too, because duty's hired me to clean up these streets! Fear not Princess, the great Yuusuke-sama shall I have Karakura Town cleaned up in a jiffy!"

Yuzu clapped her hands together, "Hurrah! You always know what to do, Yuusuke-ojisama!"

Yuusuke rubbed his nostrils with his index finger, "You know it." Yuzu gave him a fierce nod before Yuusuke reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys, much to Yuzu's confusion as she blinked her eyes, "Mind doing me a flavour, Princess?"

"No! Of course not! What do you need me to do?" Yuzu asked before finding Yuusuke's sack bag and keys put into her arms.

"Waltz on over to my place with my groceries. It'll be a bother to carry it while mopping the streets clean ya' know," Yuusuke quipped. No hollows were near their location. And even if they were Yuusuke would take them out before they can get near Yuzu.

"Okay! I'll see you back at your apartment Yuusuke-ojisama!" Yuzu said enthusiastically, earning herself a smile from Yuusuke.

"Atta girl," Yuusuke praised appreciatively, blinking his eyes once he felt his hair rustle slightly, his hat no longer on his head, "Huh?" He looked to see it on Yuzu's head, a teasing look on the girl's face.

"It's good to have you back Yuusuke-ojisama."

"It's good to be back Princess."

XxX

(A Little Later - Elsewhere)

Debris dust scattered across the ground of a football field.

"What in the hell just happened?" A girl wondered in debrief. She had shoulder-length black hair with two bangs of her hair framing her face and she had dark eyes. The girl was wearing a black tank top with a number seven printed on the front of the shirt, a white t shirt underneath the black tank top, black shorts reaching her knees, and sneakers on her feet.

She was gawking at the huge fifteen year old boy who looked like a grown man and had tan-skin. His dark red wavy hair covered his perpetually closed eyes. He was wearing a pink Hawaii shirt, black pants, and black sandals on his feet.

He seemed normal enough. And he would've been if his right arm didn't transform into a grey metal armoured arm after that massive creature he just blew away hadn't attacked him and his friend's little sister.

"Wow, how did your arm get like that big, Big-guy?" She asked him to which he shrugged in return.

"Beats me," The stoic-boy replied monotonously, putting up his guard once the creature stumbled to its feet, "I can't believe that one blow didn't finish it off."

Before the creature could dash after them, a green blur dashed past the two, making the black haired girl's hair rustle heavily to the side.

"Eat up, bitch!"

"That voice!" The girl gasped, her eyes wide in realization. She and the big boy only caught the creature's mask shattering before it dissolved into tiny spirit particles which scattered away in the wind, "The creature got taken out like it was nothing! Then it must've been-." She trailed off, a grin crossing her face as the man who saved her and her brother's friend turned around to give them the peace-sign.

"Yuu-oji!"

"Hey, Karin, I see you've been keeping yourself in shape Firecracker."

XxX

(Elsewhere – Karakura High School – A little later)

"You jerks better stay away from Orihime!" An enraged black haired girl shouted as she was surrounded by many possessed school-boys, doing her best to defend her best friend while an octopus hollow with a feminine voice commanded the boys she had under her control to attack her ruthlessly.

The girl's hair was short and spiky, fit for a tomboy. Her dark eyes were narrowed and filled with resolution. Her attire consisted of a white dress shirt, a red ribbon bow tie, a grey skirt reaching past her knees, and sneakers on her feet.

"Tatsuki-chan!" Orihime cried out worriedly, on the verge of tears as she saw her best friend do battle against their classmates. She had long beautiful orange hair, an hourglass figure fit for a woman of twenty two years old instead of a fifteen year old, and her breasts were DD-cup. Her attire consisted of the one her friend Tatsuki was wearing; the standard uniform for girls who attend Karakura High School.

Orihime looked up at the octopus, "Please leave Tatsuki-chan alone! I'll do anything!"

"**Don't worry, my pretty, no harm shall befall her once she succumbs to my army," **The hollow purred, sending shivers up Orihime's spine.

Tatsuki roundhouse-kicked two boys in their faces, knocking them into five other boys, which in return sent them stumbling to the ground. She then looked up at the hollow, a furious expression on her face, "You coward! Why don't you come down here and fight me yourself, bitch!"

"**OOO! How impressive. So you can see me dearie." **The hollow purred and Tatsuki grimaced.

"It's hard to miss something so disgusting looking." Tatsuki then smirked, "You just wait until I get up there! I'm going to tear into you for making Orihime cry! You see we've got an agreement. Anyone who makes Orihime cry has to answer to me!"

"**Awww, how sweet, but you see I rather dislike fighting. I much rather have my loyal followers do it for me you see. Now, get her boys, but don't be too tough on her. She is still a lady, and I, lady Numb-sama, won't have her ladies dirtying their hands," **Numb explained and Tatsuki scowled at the discrimination of her being a woman.

But before Tatsuki had the chance to resort the possessed boys gangbanged her, quickly grabbing her arms and legs, forcing her to scream, "Tatsuki-chan!" Orihime cried out, holding her hands together.

"**Now you will serve me dearie,"** Numb said, preparing to fire the same insects it shot into the possessed children to gain control over Tatsuki.

"**Reigan (Spirit Gun)**!"

A shout caused confusion to appear on Numb's face and hope to fill Orihime's heart before a bright blue light momentarily blinded everyone in the vicinity.

"Where is that light coming from?!" Tatsuki shouted, noticing the students fall lifelessly to the ground before she looked to where the light travelled toward, "What the-?" Tatsuki trailed off, gawking at the sight of a blue cannon wave of energy soaring into the sky, the hollow known as Numb Chandelier no longer in sight, "Who in the heck fired that off?"

Noticing Orihime's silence, Tatsuki spun her head toward her, "Hey, Orihime-chan. What are you looking at?" Orihime looked at her, pointing out their saviour with an air of innocence surrounding her. Tatsuki gaped at the green clad man crouching on the fence giving the two a wave of his hand and a smile, "A guy?"

"Howdy," Yuusuke greeted.

xXx

(Elsewhere – On Top of a Rooftop)

"Something's not right here. This many hollows shouldn't have assembled here with that little bait I squashed. Maybe this was a bad idea. I'm losing strength fast. I can no longer take out hollows with one shot anymore," A blue haired boy with glasses over his eyes said, firing a spiritually made arrow at a hollow, erasing it from existence after shooting a first arrow at it.

His right hand, the one which had a silver-coloured cross dangling from his wrist, was bleeding from the excessive amount of arrows he'd fired so far. Two bangs of his blue hair framed his oval-shaped face. He wore a white dress shirt with a blue and yellow striped tie wrapped around the neck area, grey pants held up by a black belt, and grey shoes on his feet.

"At least I can feel the hollows disappearing just as fast as they come. It must be that another reiatsu-signature," The bespectacled boy said, sensing the huge reiatsu-signature dash around town with hollows vanishing from this world just as fast, "Whoever the person is, at least he appears to be on the side of good."

Otherwise the blue haired boy wasn't sure how he would deal with him.

XxX

(Meanwhile)

"Ugh. Where is that dummy? Running around like this is getting me nowhere!" A petite girl stressed. She had black hair and purple eyes. Her black hair was shoulder-lengthened with a bang of her hair falling in between her violet eyes. She wore the Karakura High Uniform for girls.

She stopped herself after turning a corner because she heard the roar of a hollow. Growling to herself, the black haired girl elegantly hopped into the air as a coal-skinned hand tried to flatten her.

"Great. Just great. This is exactly what I need," She said sarcastically to herself, trying to fire a kido spell at the hollow, but found out she couldn't, "Damn it! I still haven't regained enough of my reiatsu after using it to waken Ichigo's dormant power!"

Upon landing on the ground, she was saved from going on the defence by an orange blur shooting past her and nailing the hollow in its face, sending it sprawling across the ground, "Ichigo?" She wondered, eyeing the lanky boy with orange spiky hair wearing a white dress shirt, grey pants, and black shoes on his feet; the typical uniform for boys who attend Karakura High School.

Once he turned to her with a big goofy smile on his features before lunging at her, it was clear that he wasn't 'Ichigo', so to speak, "Rukia-neechan!" The 'boy' screamed in joy, tackling the now known Rukia to the ground and trying to hug the petite girl, "Ohhhh! I've been waiting to do this forever now, and now I can!"

Rukia had a look of annoyance on her face as she grabbed Ichigo's arms and shoved a foot on his chin to keep the mod soul in his body away from her, "Ugh! Kon! I should've known it was you!" A red glow stained the mod-soul's face.

"Hmmm! Your hits feel as wonderful as ever, nee-chan!" Kon said in pleasure. Rukia kicked it off of her and stood up, watching as the hollow recovered from the blow Kon had given it and stomped its way to them.

"I'll protect you to the ends of the earth nee-chan!" Kon shouted determinedly, the bangs of Ichigo's hair were rustling all from an arrow which shot past it at an extreme speed, nailing the hollow in its mask and making Kon scream, "Ayaaaa!"

Rukia looked behind herself, seeing the blue haired-arrow-wielding-boy calmly walking toward them, "Oh it's you Uryu."

"Rukia Kuchiki," The blue haired boy now known as Uyru said briefly, "I supposed we've never had a proper introduction so I'll introduce myself. The name's Uyru Ishida, the last of the Quincy, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Charmed," Rukia said nonchalantly.

"Hey! You're the guy who started all of this! Why I, the great Kon-sama, ought to beat you for putting my nee-chan in danger!" Kon shouted indignantly, but a glare from Uryu instantly made the mod soul cower and back up behind Rukia who had a look of annoyance on her face, "Okay, I'm sorry! Just don't hurt me! You wouldn't want to kick a man in someone else's body now would ya?!"

"Kon…" Rukia muttered angrily, her eyebrow twitching in irritation.

"That doesn't matter, because I will protect the town's people in the name and honour of the Quincy!" Uryu declared, making Rukia and Kon blink at him. It was then that Rukia noticed the blood dripping from Uryu's hand. The Quincy immediately moved his hand behind his back and out of Rukia's sight.

"**Grrrrrr!" **The hollow roared, standing up and frightening Kon.

"Ayaaaaa! It still wants more! I can't die yet! I still haven't felt the heavenly feel of boobs!" Kon screamed.

"Damn. I thought that arrow would've been enough to finish it off," Uryu snarled, preparing to fire an arrow at the hollow, but never got the chance to as the orange haired boy with the huge broadsword from earlier leaped him into action, effortlessly taking out the hollow like it was child's play, 'Damn he's good.'

"Ichigo!" Rukia identified the boy as Ichigo, as in Ichigo Kurosaki, the boy who she had given her powers to so he could rescue his family, or more like her powers had acted like a key to unlock Ichigo's massive ones in comparison to hers.

Ichigo turned around, smiling coolly at Uryu, "Hey, Uryu. Looks like I finally found ya. Whaddya say we finish what we started partner?"

Uryu let out a scoff, "I don't have any time for your shenanigans. Not when the town's people are in danger of getting devoured by hollows."

"Well make time in your schedule then! Your stupid challenge has put many innocent lives in danger! It ends here Uryu!" Ichigo yelled. What Uryu said reminded the hot-headed boy of something. He turned to his body being preoccupied by Kon, grabbing the mod soul by his school shirt, "Hey, Kon! I thought I told you to find my sister!"

Kon shrugged, "What's the big deal? She's fine. I saw her in the park without any visible injuries on her."

Ichigo breathed a sigh of relief, "Good." He let go of Kon before spinning around to Uryu who hadn't dropped his look of intent held firmly on Ichigo, "So how about we settle this part-." Ichigo never got the chance to finish as a gasp from Rukia cut him off, "What's wrong Rukia?"

"The hollows, they're assembling together!" Rukia alarmed, making Ichigo widen his eyes. He turned around and looked up at the sky, his jaw dropping at the sight of many hollows being pulled into one location as if their leader had summoned them there.

"Damn that doesn't look good," Ichigo gnashed his teeth, noticing Uryu running toward the location of where the hollows where gathering, "Hey, Uryu! I don't think going over there is such a bright idea!"

"I told you before. If you're not confident enough of protecting the town's people, then stay out of my way, because I will do so in the name and honour of the Quincy. I _don't _need the assistance of a shinigami," Uryu stated, miffing Ichigo as he vanished from sight to deal with the hollows.

Rukia narrowed her eyes from where Uryu had once been standing.

"What's up with him? Why does he hold a grudge against shinigamis for?" Ichigo wondered.

"He's most likely been affected by the Quincy's eradication at the hands of the shinigamis," Rukia informed Ichigo calmly, shocking him as he turned to her.

"What?!" Ichigo gasped, "Are you serious Rukia? The shinigamis had no other way to deal with the Quincies?"

Rukia shook her head, her arms folded underneath her small underdeveloped bosom, "I'm afraid not. A long time ago the Quincies had a different approach of dealing with hollows. They would outright erase their existence from the World of the Living as opposed to the way Shinigamis offered hollows a chance at redemption by purifying their souls. This disrupted the balance between souls of the Human world and the Soul Society. You see souls between both worlds are not meant to change. They just trade sides as time goes on."

"Couldn't the shinigamis find a way to resolve the controversy peacefully?" Ichigo asked heatedly, shocked by the shinigamis' cold-blooded way of dealing with the Quincies, 'No wonder Uryu hates all shinigamis.'

"I'm afraid not. Many meetings were held between the Quincies and the shinigamis, but it was all for naught. The Quincies refused to listen to reason and kept taking out hollows left and right. If the Soul Society hadn't taken action against Quincies, and had just allowed them to keep on destroying hollows, it would've meant the apocalypse…" Rukia stated grimly, getting Ichigo to grit his teeth in frustration.

"Damn it." Ichigo murmured, looking up at the sky and tightening his grip on his Zanpakuto, "…Uryu."

XxX

(In the Park – Back to Back – Ichigo and Uryu)

After Ichigo had found the lone Quincy, he tried to explain to him that he understood the blue haired boy's motives, and why he wanted to prove that Quincies' were the superior race only for Uryu to tell him that he couldn't care about that. It shocked Ichigo slightly to find out that Uryu had agreed with the shinigamis once he heard that story from his grandpa, the man who taught him how to be a Quincy.

Uryu went on to explain the death of his sensei (grandfather), shocking Ichigo how the shinigamis could be so heartless as to not assist a struggling old man surrounded by a group of bloodthirsty hollows. Ichigo felt the Soul Society were being just as unreasonable as the Quincies were by not accepting Uryu's sensei's idea of Shinigamis and Quincies living and working together peacefully.

They probably set him up to silence him.

That was why Uryu wanted to prove the superior strength of the Quincy, to prove to the shinigamis that they were wrong by not heeding his grandfather's advice and finding way for Quincies and Shinigamis to live and work together peacefully.

Ichigo felt the boy had messed up his own story, and let that be known by booting the boy in the back of his head. Ichigo then told Uryu how he himself had told Ichigo that his grandfather wanted both races to live together in perfect harmony. He most certainly didn't want Uryu trying to prove the superior strength of the Quincy.

After Uryu asked Ichigo why he wished to take out (cleanse) hollows, Ichigo told Uryu about the day his mother was _almost _taken out by a hollow six years ago because of his own naivety, but for his uncle who saved his mother from certain death.

Since they were both surrounded by hollows, Ichigo suggested that they team up, and fight off the hollows together. Uryu, regaining his haughtiness, told Ichigo not to get in his way, to which Ichigo returned with a cocky smirk.

They might've been fighting hollows right now if the sky hadn't literally split open for all the hollows to gather in the centre to be swallowed by a gigantic hollow!

Its sized was greater than that of a four story high apartment-complex! The massive hollow had a long pointy nose, crimson red eyes, massive coal skin which looked more like a tattered cloak, white feet so huge they looked more like white boots, and the hole in its chest looked like a tunnel.

"A Menos Grande," Rukia murmured from where she was bind on her knees next to a blond haired man who had a sadistic glint shining in his eye and a fan covering his face.

"Oh would you look that hollow! Its size probably rivals that of Godzilla! Whatever shall we do to defeat it?" The blond haired man shouted in faked helplessness. A bucket shaped green hat with white strips was on his head, covering his bleached messy blond hair, casting a perpetual over his eyes.

He wore a brown diamond-patterned jacket with a strange symbol on the back of it. A green kimono top held close by a black sash, green pants, and geta sandals on his feet.

He was Kisuke Urahana, a mysterious shopkeeper who had been keeping a close eye on Ichigo. Kon was even bought from Kisuke's shop, by mistake since the mod souls were deemed as unsafe by the Soul Society and were meant to be destroyed. Kon just got lucky, and ended up in Kisuke's shop. Luckily Ichigo felt sorry for the mod soul and decided to keep it and use it whenever he needed to get out of his body without arousing suspicious.

Kisuke's butler in Tessai, a huge man, and Kisuke's two helpers, in Jinta and Ururu, a red haired boy and a black haired girl, all sweated and grinned tentatively at the man's antics.

"Then unbind me so I can get Ichigo out of there!" Rukia shouted commandingly, but Kisuke only kept his fan held in front of his face while his eyes gleamed sadistically.

"Relax Kuchiki-san. There is a method to my madness," Kisuke assured her darkly, receiving a gulp from her.

"Damn! This doesn't look good. Ichigo, we have to get out of here!" Uryu warned, but Ichigo's creepy laugh told the boy that he wasn't going anywhere.

"Hahahaha! What are you talking about? Isn't it obvious what we have to do? All we have to do is hack, hack, and hack away until that overgrown beanstalk is cut down to size! C'mon Uryu, let's take it down!" Ichigo yelled, making Uryu stare at him as if he had grown a second head before Ichigo raced forward while swinging his sword around like a madman.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Ichigo let out a war-cry, racing forward at pace. "Team Kurosaki will never surrender!"

"Ichigo!" Uryu shouted, watching Ichigo strike the Menos Grande in its leg before getting pushed back effortlessly, "You fool!" Uryu ran over to Ichigo, "What the hell were you thinking with such a reckless course of action?"

Ichigo looked at the boy, crossing his arms over his chest while blood leaked down in between his eyes, "Well I figured because he's so big all I would need to do is chop his legs out and keep at it until I reach his mask. Then I would purify him, easy." The orange haired boy let out a huff of arrogance at his ingenious plan before sulking as he realized it didn't work.

Uryu looked at Ichigo oddly, "Were you dropped on your head as a baby? That was never going to work. Now come on, we've got to think of a way to stop this thing before it destroys the entire town," Uryu said, touching Ichigo's sword to pull him up, only to be left gawking as the size of his bow and arrow increased exponentially the moment he touched Ichigo's sword.

'What is this? There's power flowing from his sword. It must be Ichigo's power,' Uryu mused, staring at his enlarged bow and arrow in mixture of awe, admiration, and envy.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm getting up," Ichigo groused, rubbing the side of his neck. He was smart damn it. He went to school every day like a good boy, and even studied hard. He was just often mistaken for a delinquent because of his rebellious looking hair. Some people thought he dried his hair, but he never.

Ichigo's bright orange hair was as natural as the blue sky itself.

"What will I try next?" Ichigo wondered idly.

"Ichigo!"

"Huh?" Ichigo wondered, looking over at Uryu and squeaking at the size of his bow and arrow, "What'd you do Uryu? How'd your bow get so big?"

"Never you mind that. I think I've come up with a way to get us out of this mess," Uryu said and Ichigo smirked.

"Oh yeah, let's hear it."

XxX

(Moments Later)

XxX

"Now we're ready to fight!" Uryu shouted with Ichigo's Zanpakuto stuck to his head by a white ribbon tied around it and his head, his large bow-and-arrow surging with Ichigo's power flowing into it as Uryu held it in front of himself.

"You sure this is gonna work?" Ichigo asked Uryu curiously, he could hear the laughs and giggles coming from Rukia, Mr Hat-and-Clogs, aka Kisuke Urahara, and Mr Hat-and-Clogs' two helpers.

"Quiet! You've got to release all of your reiatsu while we're connected! It's the only way we'll have a chance of defeating that hollow!" Uryu shouted heatedly, "That way I can harness your power and fire an enormous arrow at the hollow! Right now you're just wasting your energy!"

"Well you don't have to be so insulting about it," Ichigo muttered dryly, making Uryu groan.

"Ugh. Quit wasting time and release your reiatsu already!"

"How do I do that?"

"What? You mean you don't know? Then what's been your method of what battling the hollows?"

"Pure instinct."

"Huh? But that's impossible."

"Meh. I never did understand any of that stuff. I pretty much thought my reiatsu was always at its maximum."

An awkward silence occurred between the two. Uryu didn't understand how Ichigo could leak reiatsu continuously without putting a cap on it and not even noticing that he was wasting his energy like water. The boy must've had an _enormous_ amount of reiatsu.

Unfortunately there was no time to contemplate that as a sudden spike of devilish reiatsu alerted Uryu to the Menos Grande powering up a beam of energy in its mouth. The dark red glow being emitted by the beam of energy caught Ichigo's attention who stared up at it with his eyes wide in shock. The beam of energy soon moulded into a ball of energy to Rukia's shock and horror.

"Oh no, a cero. Does he intend to release a doomsday bomb right here? There's no way Ichigo and Uryu can survive that," Rukia said, still on her knees, "You've got to run Ichigo! Get as far away as you can now!"

"I know this will work. I'm sure of it. You've just got to release all of your reiatsu Ichigo," Uryu promised, feeling a bead of sweat running down his cheek at the sight of the Menos Grande charging up its cero to blow up the town.

Ichigo grabbed his sword off of Uryu's head and created a load of dust in his place as his feet desperately tried to take him to the hollow. His exasperation was building up as he felt 'Uryu' pulling on the scruff of his shinigami robes and keeping him in place. His feet started digging into the ground the more his feet moved like an automatic running machine.

"Ichigo, stop running!"

"Ugh! Get off of me Uryu! I've got to protect the town!"

"Huh? I'm not holding you back you moron."

That made both Uryu and Ichigo freeze in place. If Uryu wasn't holding Ichigo then who was?

"Hey, hold your horses squirt," Ichigo's eyes widened at the suggestion while Uryu gawked at the green clad man's strength to hold Ichigo back with ease.

Ichigo stopped squirming around, turning his head to come face to face with a familiar person, "Uncle Wolf?" Ichigo murmured, blinking his eyes at his fanged uncle who grinned toothily, showing Ichigo his canines which earned him his nickname which was given to him by an eight year old Ichigo.

"Long time no see Ichigo. I see you've been drinking your milk," Yuusuke grinned and Ichigo huffed, banging his chest like a monkey.

"Yeah! I'm taller than you now, Uncle Wolf," Ichigo grinned in return and Yuusuke laughed as he swung an arm around his now tall nephew's shoulder.

"Yeah! Guess father Christmas decided to give ya a growth spurt eh!" Yuusuke quipped, laughing loudly while Uryu and Rukia blinked rapidly at the duo.

"They know each other?" Rukia whispered, staring at Yuusuke in deep concentration, 'He got past us so effortlessly, without any of us noticing. Who is that man?' Rukia mused. Kisuke stared at Yuusuke with an expression that betrayed none of his thoughts.

Uryu coughed twice into his hand, getting the duo's attentions, "Ahm! I hate to interrupt the family's reunion, but we've got bigger things to worry about here, namely that big hollow about to fire a nuke on Karakura Town!"

Yuusuke grinned apologetically at the boy, "Right. Sorry, man." Yuusuke held up his index finger to Uryu's confusion, shaping it in the form of a gun.

"What are you going to do?" Uryu asked, only to be left in sheer awe by the magnitude of reiatsu (reiki) channelling on the tip of Yuusuke's right index finger, 'And here I thought Ichigo had a lot of reiatsu. The amount of reiatsu this guy has makes Ichigo's look like a small pond in comparison to a lake! It's insane!' Uryu mused, covering his forehead with his arm while a huge blue tinged orb formed on Yuusuke's finger, expressions of amazement appearing on Rukia's, Jinta's, Ururu's, Tessai's, and Uryu's faces.

"**Reigan (Spirit Gun)**!" Yuusuke chanted. The orb on his finger was launched from it in the form of a long cannon wave of energy the moment the Menos Grande fired its cero. The blue and red beams of energy clashed in the centre for dominance for no more than a second before Yuusuke's Reigan overpowered the Menos Grande's cero, effortlessly pushing it back into the Menos Grande's mouth.

The resulting explosion erased the Menos Grande from the World of the Living and almost knocked Ichigo and Uryu off of their feet. Once the dust cleared up, Uryu was left shocked at the crater in the ground and snapped trees broken by the shockwave of the **Reigan** easily overpowering the hollow's cero.

'Incredible. He not only pushed that nuke back into the hollow's mouth, but he also eradicated it,' Uryu mused, sweating nervously at Yuusuke's display of power. Uryu looked at Yuusuke, seeing him blow the smoke off of his finger without looking exhausted in any sense of the word, 'And he doesn't even look worn out after firing that shot.'

Yuusuke wiped his nose with his thumb, "And that's a rap."

"I see old age hasn't caught up on you," Ichigo joked, remembering how his uncle would always make jokes about his age despite not looking a day over twenty.

"Meh. What can I say, I take my medicine every day along with a cup of juice," Yuusuke replied jestingly, making Ichigo laugh. How he missed his uncle.

"When'd you get back man? Yuzu hasn't stopped going on about ya ever since you left ya' know," Ichigo told him.

"I only waltzed on into town earlier today, Junior. Imagine my surprise when I saw the streets littered with quite the number of insects. So I, being the good Samaritan I am nowadays, offered a helping hand to the pest control force," Yuusuke remarked, getting an odd look from Uryu at the way he preferred to hollows as little more than insects.

Yuusuke stretched out his back with his hands on his hips, "Ahhhh! What an enjoyable workout!" Yuusuke said before remembering what Ichigo said about Yuzu, "Oh, yeah, I bailed Princess and Firecracker outta hot water not too long ago."

"What? Yuzu and Karin were attacked by hollows?" Ichigo asked frantically. Ichigo knew the nicknames of which Yuusuke gave him and his siblings. Yuusuke had been calling them those names for as long as Ichigo could remember. Well Yuusuke couldn't call Ichigo squirt anymore since Ichigo was no longer short.

Yuusuke would probably think of something else to call Ichigo knowing him.

"Meh. No biggie. I got 'em outta trouble no problemo," Yuusuke stated with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Good. They're okay, thanks Uncle Wolf," Ichigo said appreciatively, getting a smile from Yuusuke before his uncle snapped his fingers in remembrance.

"I also pulled several others outta the frying pan," Yuusuke quipped.

"Oh yeah? Who were they?" Ichigo asked.

"Some guy who danced on into Firecracker while being tailed by a hollow which got its ass handed to it by me. The guy said he knows you by the way. Sado, I think his name was. And a big breasted girl and a flat-chested girl named Orihime and Tatsuki respectively. Funnily enough I asked 'em if they knew you and it turns out they do, haha!" Yuusuke laughed.

Ichigo nodded his head with a disturbed look on his face, "Is that so?"

Yuusuke tucked one of his hands into his pocket before turning to face Ichigo, using his other hand to tap the boy on his shoulder, "You might wanna probe that guy's noggin for info on Sado," Yuusuke said, gesturing toward Kisuke.

Ichigo looked at Kisuke who waved at him in return, "Why? Did something happen to Chado?"

"Heh. Words can't explain big Sado's transformation from a kid who looks like a man to a kid who can wield a sorta Power-ranger-like power," Yuusuke explained to Ichigo's and Uryu's confusion before walking past his nephew, "You'll see for yourself, trust me on that one. Later."

"I see where you get your insanity from Ichigo," Uryu said and Ichigo chuckled a little before a smile came to his face.

"Yeah, that's uncle Wo-." Ichigo stopped himself once he realized what Uryu was implying, "Hey! You calling me stu-."

"Oh! And Ichigo, tell your momma I'll come and pay her a visit later today. Princess is at my place. You should pop around mine, man. Don't be a stranger nephew!" Yuusuke advised him cheerfully, blinking his eyes once he noticed Ichigo scowling at Uryu, "Ha! They remind of myself and Kuwabara! Wow, time sure flies by when one's having fun!"

Yuusuke cupped his mouth with his hands, "Have fun with your friend Shinigami-kohai!"

Ichigo snapped his head to his uncle so fast Uryu thought he may have broken his neck.

"How'd you know I was a…"

XxX

(Later)

Yuusuke returned home not long after he effortlessly eradicated that Menos Grande like it was Child's play. He lived in a four story high apartment-complex because he didn't see the point of owning a house. Besides he liked the small space. It made things easier for him went he was ready to move on.

"Home sweet home," Yuusuke grinned, venturing inside and taking a slow walk to the top floor instead of using the elevator to reminisce in memories of him carrying the twins and Ichigo up the stairs. They used to love Yuusuke jumping up each sets of stairs like a bunny rabbit while chuckling goofily.

"Ah. 'Em were the days," Yuusuke signed leisurely, making his way to the top of the stairs and venturing to his door at the end of the hall. He reached into his pocket and fished around for his keys, blinking his eyes as he couldn't find them.

"That's right. I gave 'em to Princess so she could bring my shopping here," Yuusuke remembered, feeling like a senile old man, "Haha! Guess the old noggin of mine's not exactly running on one hundred percent efficiency as it used to," Yuusuke quipped, knocking on his door.

"Geez. Whoever heard of someone requesting to enter their own home?" Yuusuke wondered before his door opened up, revealing Yuzu who smiled brightly seeing her uncle.

"Yuusuke-ojisama!" Yuzu chirped, hugging Yuusuke.

"Alright, take it easy, Princess. Uncle's back ain't exactly as sturdy as it used to be ya' know," Yuusuke joked, smiling widely at his surrogate niece.

Yuzu pulled away from her uncle but still held onto his hand, pulling him into the living room with a beaming smile on her features, "Take a look at what I did for you, Yuusuke-ojisama."

"Alright, let's have a look squirt," Yuusuke said, allowing himself to be pulled into his apartment by the smaller girl. He whistled in an impressed tone at the wonderful fragrance of his sparkling living room/kitchen while Karin sat on a three piece black recliner sofa playing Yuusuke's PlayStation 3 in the living room part of the apartment.

"Hey, it's shiny in here. Did you clean up, Princess?" Yuusuke asked.

Yuzu gave him a nod of her head in confirmation, "Hmm-mmm. I figured it would be the best welcoming home present I could offer you."

"Shucks, you didn't have to do that for me, but thanks. Much obliged," Yuusuke said, giving Yuzu a one-armed hug which she returned by swinging both of her arms around Yuusuke's torso.

"Since I'm here I also figured I might as well make you my specialty, so sit down and wait because dinner will be ready in two hours Yuusuke-ojisama," Yuzu told him cheerfully, pushing Yuusuke off in direction of the living room part of the room.

"If you insist," Yuusuke responded sheepishly, receiving a hum from Yuzu, "Okay, I'll let ya do your thing then Princess," Yuzu embraced him from behind one last time before going over to the kitchen to prepare dinner. Yuusuke shook his head with a smile on his face. He could never find it in him to deny his cute little niece Yuzu Kurosaki.

"Hey, Firecracker, whatcha playing?" Yuusuke asked as he approached Karin, finding out for himself as he looked at his plasma screen TV, "Ah. You're playing Tekken 6. You think you can beat an old man at it whippersnapper?" Yuusuke questioned jestingly, picking up a second controller.

"I'll try, Yuu-oji." Karin assured him simply, "Just don't cry when I do."

Oh. Trash-talking. Yuusuke was going to enjoy this one.

Yuusuke sat down next to the girl with a challenging smirk on his face.

"Perhaps you might want to save that one for yourself, Firecracker."

Oh it was on.


	2. Trolling Is Absolute

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Bleach **

**I did make a little mistake in the last chapter. I said Yuusuke had been living in Karakura Town for twelve years minus the three years he had been living in China, when in reality Yuusuke had been living in Karakura Town for twenty five years, or at least he would've if didn't spend three years in China. My bad, I have corrected that though.**

**Yuusuke had been living in Karakura Town for twenty two years, not twelve.**

* * *

**Chapter Two**

**Trolling Is Absolute **

The sun had well and truly set behind the horizon. The bright blue sky dimmed down to fiery orange before the orange sky dwindled out and become the pitch black night sky filled with many stars, the big round silvery moon shining down on the World of the Living.

"Well, here we are girls," Yuusuke commented, a blissful Yuzu up high on his shoulders, and a content Karin standing by his side as the trio approached a door after walking past a clinic. In fact it was all one building that belonged to Yuusuke's nieces' and nephew's father, Isshin.

"Thank you for walking us home Yuusuke-ojisama. Momma's going to be happy to see you," Yuzu smiled. Yuusuke's hands were on her legs to keep her balanced on his shoulders, and she'd Yuusuke's Chinese hat covering her head.

"You think?" Yuusuke asked curiously, scratching the side of his cheek in an idle manner. Yuzu gave him an enthusiastic nod while Karin gave him a bored one, "Heh. I was expecting an ear-lashing from her for helping myself to her groceries to tell ya the truth, haha."

"And when has mom ever done that to you, Yuu-oji?" Karin asked, sarcasm evident in her voice, making Yuusuke chuckle a tad sheepishly.

"Besides, I insisted on using the ingredients I had to make you Okonomiyaki. I'm sure mommy will understand," Yuzu said, smiling.

"Meh. I'm sure she will, Princess. Mommy cherishes her little progenies ya' know," Yuusuke assured, removing one of his hands from his niece's leg to prop it on her left cheek and rub it in an affection manner. A pink tinge appeared across Yuzu's face from her uncle's affection touch.

"Right! So it's settled! I'll just use you girls as an alibi to avoid getting thrown in the doghouse! Haha!" Yuusuke laughed victoriously.

"Boy, way to lead by example Yuu-oji," Karin said sarcastically, receiving a cheeky grin from Yuusuke before the wolf-like half demon dipped his hand into his pocket to fish around for his keys.

"Now where'd I put those thingumajigs again," Yuusuke mumbled. The sound of jingling metal shaking together directed Yuusuke's attention upward, "Huh?" His keys were held in front of his face and then were switched out to be replaced by Yuzu's smiling face.

"Looking for these?" Yuzu asked.

"Yeah," Yuusuke answered, taking his keys from Yuzu, "Where'd these little buggers scurry away too?"

"Well you didn't exactly ask for them when you came back home, and even walked outta your apartment without them. So Yuzu just picked them up so you wouldn't be locked outta your apartment later," Karin explained in her usual nonchalance. Sometimes her lovable uncle could be so stupid.

"Oh yeah, guess it slipped thee old noggin of mine. Thanks Princess, props Firecracker. This old man wouldn't know what he'd do without ya two," Yuusuke chirped, appreciation evident in his voice while he grinned widely. Yuzu nestled her head on top of her uncle's head while Karin shook her head at him.

"You don't look that old to me Yuu-oji," Karin said.

"Oh yeah? How old do I look then?" Yuusuke asked, his grin turning mischievous.

Karin placed her hands on her hips, a pensive expression on her face, "Hmm. Well I say you're about mom's age."

"Good try, squirt. Keep trying. You'll get it one day," Yuusuke assured, walking forward to the door with his keys in his hand. Karin blinked her eyes. Just how old was her uncle?

"Let's see," Yuusuke lifted up his keys, looking at them one after the other to find the one he was looking for, "Bingo. Here we go," A smile appeared on his face as he singled out the one he was searching for.

Yuusuke's brother-in-law had insisted that Yuusuke have a spare key to the Kurosakis' house in case of emergencies, like for instance if one of the Kurosaki-members ever got locked out they could phone Yuusuke and he could come rushing down to let the one locked out in.

In return Yuusuke gave one to his little sister just in case he ever locked himself outta his own home.

Yuusuke propped the home-key to the Kurosaki's home of living in the keyhole, turning the doorknob downwards and then pushing the door back to walk into the house, "Ah. Now this takes me back," Yuusuke reminisced on the times he'd waltzed on through this very door to be greeted by the very different greetings of the people who'd lived in this house.

"Hey, I'm here! So get the kettle on 'cause I wanna cup of tea, three sugars!" Yuusuke shouted jestingly, stretching his arms upward and underneath Yuzu's arms to lift the girl off of his shoulders and place her on her feet.

Yuusuke scratched his head after a few seconds passed by, "Huh? Now that's odd. I could've sworn that would've provoked some sort of reaction."

A banging sound reverberated throughout the hallway, causing Yuusuke and his two nieces to blink at each other. Animal instincts were a life saviour because Yuusuke's told him to shift his head in the direction of where the main room was. And he did in the nick of time to see a blur sped to a stop facing his direction, materializing for a second to let Yuzu and Karin see a gleam that got them to sigh.

The blur raced towards Yuusuke.

"YOU'RE LATE, YUUSUKE-ANIKIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

"Whoa," Yuusuke said, easily side-stepping the crazed man who looked set on nailing Yuusuke in his face with a flying kick, but instead ended up sailing outside of the house where he crashed into the ground. His head buried in the solid concrete ground while his legs hung up in the air.

"Did you enjoy your flight Isshin?" Yuusuke questioned the downed man coolly, identifying him as Isshin, as in Isshin Kurosaki, the father of Yuusuke's nephew and two nieces and loving husband of Yuusuke's surrogate sister.

Isshin hopped out of the hole without any visible scratches on him. Isshin was a tall man with a big physique. His shoulders were only a little smaller than Yuusuke's whom shoulders were wide to display his bluffness.

Isshin's short hair was black and spiky, his eyes were onyx coloured, his skin was tanned, and he had a small moustache with a bit of stubble on his chin. His attire consisted of an orange dress shirt with many red pine trees patterned all over it; a long white Dexter-esque lab coat, a pair of black pants, and white socks.

"You're instincts never cease to amaze me Yuusuke-aniki!" Isshin yelled exuberantly, his hands on his hips, "Don't drop your guard for a minute because I'll get-cha!"

"Oh. And I take it that's a challenge."

"You betcha it is!"

"Come get some."

Isshin smiled as he dropped into a stance to try and drop a hit on his brother-in-law.

"Come on daddy, can't you give Yuusuke-ojisama a break. He only just got back today," Yuzu argued, causing her father's shoulders to slump.

"Don't worry, Princess, we're just play-fighting. It's what brothers do ya' know," Yuusuke brushed off the whole ordeal in a laid back manner, grinning.

"Play-fighting, at your age, seriously, Yuu-oji?" Karin asked in a dry manner.

"Hahahaha." Yuusuke chuckled, folding his arms behind his head, "It's never too late for a little brotherly bonding."

"But that doesn't mean you should wrestle with each other. You've only just got back. You should be taking it easy, not wrestling with daddy," Yuzu whined in an adorable manner, making Yuusuke rub the back of his head in a sheepish fashion.

Isshin, on the other hand, looked a little flustered if the way his body was shaking with his head lowered meant anything. His precious daughter missed her dear uncle and longed for affection. Was she that starved of affection that she'd prey to the high heavens for her uncle to come back and shower her with the fond feelings she desired? Was Isshin's own absentness the cause of his neglect towards his little angel?

Well no more! Isshin would shower Yuzu-chan with all the love she needed.

"Oh my dear daughter, how could I be so ignorant as to not see your suffering!" Isshin yelled, causing Yuusuke and the girls to stare upon him in a bizarre fashion. Isshin placed his hands on the buttons of his shirt, prying open his shirt like he was a fan of the Hulk and he was doing his best impersonation of the green beast to flash his huge chest at his daughters.

"Don't worry, sweetie! Daddy has all the love you need! You too, Karin! Come feel the warm embrace of daddy's love girls!" Isshin shouted with his exuberance flaring mightily. He leaped at his daughters with his arms wide to hug the life right out of them.

But unfortunately his face must've been hungry, because it ended up eating a solid kick to it courtesy of Karin.

"Save it for someone else you dirty old man!" Karin fumed while Yuzu shook her head with a sigh escaping her lips.

"MASAKI!" Isshin wailed, shooting up to his feet with a red bruise on his face, tears in his eyes as his sprinted back into the house and around the corner, "OUR DAUGHTER MISTREATS ME SO BAD!"

"Hehe." Yuusuke chuckled nervously, "Jeez. He hasn't changed much, even in the twenty three years I've known him."

"'l doubt the old man will ever change," Karin mumbled, shaking her head. Yuusuke chuckled, but stopped once he felt a small tug on his right hand. He turned his head to see Yuzu smiling up at him with sparkling eyes.

"Come on Yuusuke-ojisama, mommy's just around the corner," Yuzu prompted, pulling Yuusuke forward.

"Alright Princess, lead the way," Yuusuke said, letting Yuzu take him into the living room/kitchen part of the half clinic/ half house building with Karin following behind them.

Upon opening the door to the living room/kitchen, Yuzu pinpointed a beautiful woman with long darkish orange hair sitting near the dinner table that had two cups of tea on it; one cup on her end and one cup on the other end. The woman had a bawling Isshin's head on her lap while he sat on his knees next to her.

The woman was very beautiful with her curly darkish orange hair which fell to her back. She had preached skin which she obviously passed on to all three of her children. Her breasts were a modest size of D-cup. She'd pink hued lipstick painted on her lips. She wore a pink blouse over a red t shirt, a chocolate brown skirt reaching past her ankles, and black high heels on her feet. Her elegance was completed by her hourglass figure and shapely butt.

"Mommy, look who came back. It's Yuusuke-ojisama!" Yuzu clarified cheerfully, receiving a gasp from her mother who slowly, almost robotically, rose her head up, as if her mind couldn't quite comprehend what Yuzu was saying. Even as her eyes locked onto their target it all seemed like an illusion to Masaki Kurosaki.

Time slowed down as Masaki (ghostly) stared at the green clad man she had known for twenty five years.

"Yuu-oniisama," Masaki whispered.

"Hey, sis, you been good?" Yuusuke asked.

Masaki slowly removed her husband's head from her lap to stand up, moving over to her surrogate brother. Once she'd approached him she swung her arms around his neck, giving him a peck on his cheek.

"Yeah. I've been good. Ichi-chan said you were back in town. I thought he was just pulling my leg until the girls didn't come back," Masaki explained, letting go of Yuusuke and giving him a wide grin which he returned with one of his own.

"Yeah I kinda felt like a couch potato for a while," Yuusuke informed his sister with his hands on his hips, "Firecracker had to drag my ass up before we left, otherwise I doubted I would've made the effort to walk Princess and Firecracker home," Yuusuke joked, chuckling.

"But Yuusuke-ojisama, you couldn't take me or Karin-chan home until I finished making my speciality, Okonomiyaki!" Yuzu chirped. Masaki gasped with her hand covering her mouth. She had completely forgotten about that the moment Ichigo got back from school and told her his uncle Wolf was back in town. She was in so much of a trance-like state that she ended up ordering pizza for her, Isshin's, and Ichigo's dinner.

Masaki looked at Yuusuke with a teasing look on her face, faking warning in her voice, "Oh he did, did he?"

"Yuzu even used the ingredients you sent her out to get to make Yuu-oji his dinner," Karin explained, causing Yuzu to pout at her.

Yuusuke rubbed his nostrils with his index finger, "Guilty as charged, sis. But in my defence Princess here sure is one mean cook! I tell ya I'd hire her as my personal chef any day of the week!" Yuusuke complimented Yuzu cheerfully, patting Yuzu on the head while the humble girl pushed her index fingers together.

"You're too much bro!"

"Don't you and I know it?!"

"Unfortunately," Masaki joked, grinning at Yuusuke who winked at her, "Please make yourself at home. I made us tea!" This caused the wolf-man to blink at her.

"Huh? Whaddya mean, sis?" Yuusuke asked.

"Really? It's not like you didn't shout get the kettle on because you wanted a cup of tea with three sugars," Karin reminded Yuu-oji sarcastically, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Oh right," Yuusuke replied, scratching the side of his cheek in a sheepish manner.

"I swear, it's like your mouth runs faster than your brain Yuu-oniisama," Masaki remarked, giggling slightly.

"Meh. I can't communicate with people with my mind," Yuusuke said as if that explained everything as he walked near the dinner table, "Besides, I'm a man of action. Kick ass first and interrogate later. That's my motto alright." Yuzu and Masaki giggled at Yuusuke.

Looking at her watch Masaki realized it was getting a tad late, "Oh would you look at the time. Okay, girls. Say good night to uncle Yuusuke and head up to bed. You've got school again tomorrow. Today was only training day," Masaki ordered.

"Okay, mommy," Yuzu obeyed, running over to her uncle who heard her footsteps approaching him and spun around only to be tackled in a hug by Yuzu.

"Wah!"

"Good night Yuusuke-ojisama! Thank you for the great day!" Yuzu chirped.

"Aw. Anytime, Princess," Yuusuke promised. He took his hat off of the girl's head and placed it on his own head. Yuzu disconnected herself from her uncle and tugged on his sleeve, "Huh? What is it, Princess?" Yuusuke looked down at Yuzu to see her puckering out her lips to him, "Oh! You just want to gimme some sugar," Yuusuke smiled, bending down and turning his head to the side. Yuzu pecked her uncle on his cheek and contently jogged on over to her sister.

Yuusuke stood up straight while rubbing his nostrils with his index finger, "Firecracker?" Karin strolled over to her uncle and high-fived him, "That's my girl." Karin nodded her head at her uncle before pivoting on her heels.

"C'mon sis, let's get some sleep. Don't wanna be drowsy during the wonderful hours of school tomorrow. Whoopee doo," Karin grumbled sarcastically, making Yuusuke laugh. He just would loved that girl's sarcasm.

"Okay!" Yuzu replied enthusiastically.

"Don't worry, if you're scared of the dark daddy can sleep in your bed and read you two a bedtime story!" Isshin assured energetically, rushing over to his two daughters who had begun ascending the stairs to their shared bedroom, only to be booted down the stairs by Karin.

"That's the last thing we need old man!" Karin raged.

"My head's spinning," Isshin mumbled, a waterfall of tears pouring from his eyes. He soon hopped to his feet fully revitalized, "Okay, then, at least let your old-man tuck you girls in!"

"I said no!"

Yuusuke and Masaki sweated sheepishly as they watched the interaction between father and daughters, "He's never gonna change is he?"

"Nope!" Masaki chirped, walking over to the table along with Yuusuke and taking a seat across from her dear brother, "But that's just the way I love him. I wouldn't change a single thing about my man!"

"Amen." Yuusuke replied, picking up his cup of tea and taking a sip from the tea, "Nice."

Masaki nodded her head in appreciation to that as she took a sip of her tea.

"Ichi-chan said you came to the rescue of him and the girls earlier today when hollows infiltrated the world of the living," Masaki said, a little bit of worry in her voice which Yuusuke caught.

"Well I only defeated the mother of all apes: King Kong, and a few of its minions targeting Princess, Firecracker, and two of Ichigo's classmates," Yuusuke quipped, "Ichigo held his own with the help of a Quincy-kid Kisuke says was responsible for why so many hollows littered the streets today as if the day had become an all-out party." Yuusuke relayed what Kisuke had told him after he saved Chad and Karin from being eaten by a hollow.

"That must've been Ryuu-chan's son. You know I tried to arrange several play-dates for Ichi-chan and Uryu so they could meet other. Ichi-chan has a right to meet his own cousin after all, but Ryuu-chan refused, saying it wouldn't work out. Poor guy, he probably still feels a little strange considering the fact that we were arranged to be married," Masaki said.

"If it's any consolation there weren't any hard feelings between Ichigo and the Uryu-kid after I took out the mother of all small fries in King Kong."

"Oh that's relief. Now they can start a blossoming friendship!"

"Although they were at each throats before I left 'em like a couple of old fashion rivals!"

"Yep, it's better than nada."

"Two warriors can grow to respect each other even as they battle it out for supremacy, whether they mean to or not, haha! Most of the time they're blind as bats to their self-respects growing for each other as the days passes on."

Masaki agreed with a nod of her head. Her brother always had a way of sounding like a wise old man who had seen and experienced it all.

"Hey, Masaki," Yuusuke began, giving his sister a serious look.

"Yes, Yuu-oniisama, what is it?"

"You know Sport up in his room has got that ascended samurai thing going on right?"

"Yeah, Ichi-chan has been a shinigami for six months now."

Yuusuke whistled, "Wow, that long. How'd it happen?"

"Hollow attacked our home one night when Isshin was out of town on a business trip. I lost consciousness the moment the hollow exploded through the wall and sent me flying into the opposite wall. Me and the kids would've been dead if it wasn't fo-." Masaki trailed off, turning away from her brother with tears forming in her eyes.

"What?" Yuusuke probed, looking at his sister with concern colouring his face, "What bailed you and the kiddies outta hot water?"

Masaki turned back to Yuusuke, "A shinigami."

"A shinigami?"

"Yes. When I came round I noticed it was morning. I rushed to check on the girls and asked them what happened to the hollow. They looked at me like I was crazy, and told me a truck crashed into the house. Once Isshin got back home I explained to him what happened and he said Ichigo must've saved us, possibly by receiving the powers of a shinigami to awaken his own dormant powers. It all became clear once Kisuke-san phoned Isshin-koi and gave us the rundown of the whole thing," Masaki explained.

Yuusuke cupped his chin, "I'm guessing Kisuke used that whatchamajig to replace Princess' and Firecracker's memories."

"Memory replacement, bro…"

"Yeah, that," Yuusuke mumbled, grinning sheepishly at Masaki's deadpan look, "So whatcha going to do about Sport now that he's some super-duper God of death? He ain't exactly a lone wolf in all of this, ya' know. His partner-in-crime's staying with him right now up in his room."

At this, Masaki's eyes shined and a smile of brightness appeared on her face, "Oooo, it's so cute and romantic how my little Ichi-chan is hiding his girlfriend from his mommy. He probably doesn't want mommy embarrassing him in front of her."

"A girl?" Yuusuke blinked.

"Yup! Yuzu-chan's been finding her clothes inexplicably disappearing so I know it's a girl my Ichi-chan is associated with in dealing with the evildoers of the world!"

"Heh." Yuusuke let out in a dumbed manner, scratching the side of his cheek, "Well it's actually crystal clear when you look at it from that perspective." Masaki nodded her head in agreement with her brother, grinning from ear to ear at the prospect of her baby boy finally meeting someone, "So what are you going to do about Sport?"

"Isshin-koi said it was better to let things cool down on their own," Masaki answered, smiling sheepishly.

Yuusuke blinked, "You mean Sport doesn't know you guys are on to him about his secret."

"Some things are better left in the dark," Masaki replied, her smile becoming increasingly more strained.

"Like what?" Yuusuke challenged.

"You know, about my little… problem," Masaki whispered very quietly at the end.

"Oh right," Yuusuke grumbled, "I forgot all about that."

"Isshin's fearful that one of our babies might have inherited it from me," Masaki murmured, biting her top lip out of apprehension, "Ohhhhhh! What if one of our babies has it? Or worse, all of them? They gonna be haunted by nightmares, Yuusuke-oniisama! What are we gonn-."

Masaki's worries ended there, a soft, yet, firm grip landed on her shoulder, "Hey, let's not get ahead of ourselves," Masaki gasped, her eyes wide at the vacant spot which was preoccupied by her brother, who was now standing beside her, moments before, "That's neither here nor there in the now, the present. If push comes to shove I'll deal with it. I know people, people who have a similar inner realm problem like one of the kiddies may have, my money's on Sport. They won't be alone."

"Yuusuke-oniisama," Masaki murmured softly, touching Yuusuke's hand with her own. Her brother always seemed to know the right words to reassure her that everything would work out no matter what, "Thank you."

Yuusuke returned the appreciation Masaki showed him with his signature wolf-fanged grin, "Hey, what are big brothers for, eh?"

"Hmm, I dunno, maybe to annoy their little sisters with their overprotectiveness, stopping them from getting a man because they're miserable loners who can't bear the thought of their precious little sisters growing up, getting married, and no longer needing their brothers' protection!" Masaki joked cheerfully.

"Ouch! Aim a little lower why don't ya!" Yuusuke faked a cringe which got his sister to giggle at him, "Ah. Now there's the sis I know, the Queen of this castle and as bright as the sun is itself," Yuusuke flicked his middle and index fingers into Masaki's forehead, making her pout at him which he mischievously giggled off.

"Only when I have my family around me!" Masaki chirped brightly, immediately allowing her colourful, cheerful demeanour to dwindle so she could give Yuusuke a stern look, "And that includes all of my family members, Mister. All of you keep me brightened throughout the day."

"Yeah, yeah, I hear ya loud and clear sis," Yuusuke assured her coolly, tucking his hand into his pocket and venturing over to his tea.

"Love you too bro."

"Don't you know it," Yuusuke grinned, picking up his cup and slurping the rest of his tea down in one go, placing down his tea cup on the table with enough force to quake the table slightly, "Listen, I'm gonna go check on Sport and then roll on home."

"You sure that's a good idea," Masaki asked curiously, but Yuusuke waved his free hand in a dismissive manner.

"Oh yeah, it's no biggie. He already knows that I know that he's a shinigami. No need to go good cop, bad cop on his ass to get that info off of him," Yuusuke remarked and Masaki giggled, "Besides, I'm curious what his little girl friend looks like."

"You just want to tease Ichi-chan to remember the times when you used to troll him by saying the opposite of what he wanted when he asked you for it." Masaki stated.

"Caught me red handed sis," Yuusuke confessed to his crimes as he started walking off to Ichigo's room.

"When do I ever not catch you with your hand in the cookie jar?" Masaki quipped questioningly, smiling teasingly at her brother as he continued to waltz towards Ichigo's room in a goofy fashion.

"Good point."

"Troll him good!"

"Will do."

XxX

(Ichigo's room)

XxX

"It's so weird?" Rukia murmured, sitting by Ichigo's desk with Kon standing on the desk in his little stuffed lion body.

"Huh? What do you mean Rukia?" Ichigo asked curiously, lying on his bed with his arms folded behind his head in a leisured manner.

Rukia was a little miffed at Ichigo's nonchalant attitude, "About your uncle dummy! You know the one who held you back before erasing a Menos Grande out of existence like it was child's play!"

Ichigo sat up, rubbing his forehead in annoyance, "I told ya earlier, that's just my Uncle Wolf."

"Yeah, but why did he turn up then? Who exactly is he?" Rukia asked, "It just feels too convenient for him to appear right when all hope was lost."

"Yeah! That guy was ultra-powerful Ichigo! It's hard to see how you originate from within his lineage. He's so powerful and you're so not! He even saved me another day, or dozens of days, of finding my one true treasure: boobies!" Kon yelled.

Ichigo sent a glare at Kon, "Keep your voice down Kon. You're gonna wake up my sisters."

"Oh, sorry," Kon cringed.

"Anyway, Uncle Wolf's name is Yuusuke Urameshi," Ichigo informed the two.

"Yuusuke Urameshi? So I can take it that you two are not blood related then," Rukia said smartly.

"Nah, but he's been in our family for as long as I can remember. Both mom and dad look up to him as a wise older brother when he's not fooling around," Ichigo said.

"He sounds like a very easy-going guy," Rukia replied.

"Yeah, Uncle Wolf has never been one for blowing his top off," Ichigo quipped, "When he does, it's usually not pretty. Just ask the parents of the kids who used to bully me and my sisters back when we were younger. They'll tell ya all about it if they can still walk after the ass-kicking uncle Wolf gave them."

"Ha! You used to get bullied! Hahahaha!" Kon laughed at Ichigo's expense.

"Shut up, Kon! I was only a kid back then. I didn't have any fighting experience, not to mention I got gangbanged by five kids, not one! That wasn't fair." Ichigo argued.

Kon tried to stifle his laughter but failed miserably, "Yeah I hear ya. I betcha mommy had to kiss your boo boos after the bullies huddled around you and stomped a mud-hole in you! Yep! No boobies for you Ichigo!" Ichigo scowled deeply at the mod soul who grinned in mocked innocence at him.

"Anyway," That aside: "Uncle Wolf is more than just a family-friend. He's family. I can remember seeing the sadness on mom's, dad's, Yuzu's, and Karin's faces when he upped and left town for a few years. I hope he never leaves again. I don't wanna see that sadness on their faces again." His choice of words got Kon to cease his laughter as the mod soul along with Rukia looked at Ichigo thoughtfully.

"I can only imagine how rough that must've been for you," Rukia said, sympathizing with the boy.

"Yeah. That's why I'm glad he's back. Good time to come back too, otherwise we would've all been fried by that hollow's cero. Uncle Wolf has given me a chance to get stronger so I can do what he did: protect." Ichigo turned to Rukia, a serious expression on his face which got the girl to flinch, "I wanna get stronger Rukia, so I can protect everyone, even you."

"Ichigo," Rukia whispered softly, Kon gulping out of suppressed fear as he saw the two stare at each other in wonder.

The two were only broken from their stupors from a sharp knocking on the door.

"Oh shit," Ichigo cussed, "Just a minute." He turned to Kon and Rukia quickly, "Get in the wardrobe. Quick."

"Right." Rukia sputtered, picking up Kon and leaping to her feet. She turned to the wardrobe and swung it open, jumping inside and sliding the door shut.

"Come in!" Ichigo called out to the one who was knocking his door, "If it's you, Yuzu, then I haven't seen your yellow pj-."

"Hey, Sport! What's shaking?" Yuusuke greeted him cheerfully, waltzing through Ichigo's door before his nephew had the chance to finish his sentence. Yuusuke coolly back-heeled the door shut before dancing on over to his nephew.

"Oh, hey Uncle Wolf, what brings ya up here?" Ichigo asked, blinking his eyes at his uncle. The door to the wardrobe cracked open slightly, allowing two sets of eyes to spy on the green clad man's interaction with his nephew.

xXx

"That's him." Rukia murmured.

"I wonder what he's come up to speak with Ichigo about." Kon pondered, "Maybe he's got tips to give to Ichigo about how to pick up girls and get boobies."

Rukia groaned quietly, "I hardly doubt that he'll discuss something as trivial as picking up adolescents dummy." Kon moaned sadly, latching itself onto Rukia's small undeveloped bosom.

"Oh nee-chan your wisdom exceeds you to no ends," Kon cried, rubbing its head on a flinching Rukia's chest.

"Get off of me dummy," Rukia demanded.

XxX

Ichigo fumed internally at the rustling door of his wardrobe, 'Goddamn it Kon.' Fortunately, his uncle wasn't bothered about that. Either he weren't bothered about the rustling door or his hearing wasn't as proficient as it used to be.

"What? An uncle can't come and check in on his nephew? What is this world coming to nowadays?" Yuusuke joked.

"Okay, you made your point. It just seems kinda random is all," Ichigo said.

Yuusuke tapped his chin a couple of times, "Hmm. Well that mighta been the case if I didn't know you were waltzing down the pathway of the death-gods." The wardrobe door was rustling like an out of control washing machine once those words left Yuusuke's mouth.

And Yuusuke still didn't even turn to it.

Meanwhile Ichigo gawked immensely at his uncle.

"How did you know about that?" Ichigo asked, gaping at his uncle.

Yuusuke tapped his forehead with his index finger multiple of times, "Let's just say I'm a little more seasoned than I look Junior, and leave it at that."

"Un huh." Ichigo responded.

Yuusuke sat across from Ichigo on his bed in a leg-crossed position, "So, do ya mind giving an old man the rundown on your adventures of a shinigami Sport. I didn't quite get the memo earlier on in-case you're wondering."

"Yeah. Well I guess it goe-."

"Wait." Yuusuke halted Ichigo's story by shooting his hand outward in a flat open palm, "You can't spill the beans on your activities without your partners-in-crime now, right Sport?"

"Huh?" Ichigo blinked.

Yuusuke jerked his thumb in the direction of the wardrobe, making it rattle several times, "Yeah, those two hiding out in the wardrobe." Yuusuke turned toward the wardrobe with a welcoming smile on his face, "You two can come out now. I ain't gonna bust your asses. I ain't a pig if you must know."

The wardrobe door slid open and out popped a petite cute black haired girl and a lion stuffed animal.

"There we go, now that wasn't too hard now was it?" Yuusuke asked somewhat teasingly, receiving a glare from Rukia. His teasing smile then turned to Ichigo who recoiled out of instinct, "Hey, you never told me you had such a cute girlfriend Sport. How'd ya score this one? She's a fine catch if I do say so myself, haha!"

"What?!" Ichigo and Rukia shouted in surprise.

"You don't have to deny it, I can just smell the love you two have for each other from a mile away. I'm something of an expert at that these things ya know," Yuusuke stated, folding his arms over his chest with his eyes closed

"We're not in love!" Rukia and Ichigo yelled at him, flinching afterwards as they realized they said it at the same time. They turned their heads to each other slowly, eyeing each other up awkwardly before shifting away from each other in a haughty manner.

"Don't get the wrong idea Ichigo."

"Who could love a dwarf like you?"

Rukia pouted angrily, turning around to face Ichigo's back with her tiny fists clenched, "Oh, so I'm a dwarf now, huh?"

"Yeah, a mutated one since I'm sure dwarfs are taller than you!" Ichigo spat as he spun around to glare at Rukia who glared right back at him.

"That's funny, coming from the mouth of an overgrown beanstalk!"

"Dwarf!"

"Beanstalk!"

"Dwarf!"

"Beanstalk!"

"Dwarf!"

"Beanstalk!"

"Dwarf!"

"Beanstalk!"

"Dwarf!"

"Hey, you leave nee-chan alone you big jerk! Don't worry, nee-chan, the great Kon-sama shall protect you! You can repay my kindness by letting me feel your boobs!"

Kon flew at Rukia and ended up eating tiled flooring as Rukia stomp her foot onto its head.

"Shut up, Kon! I can handle this dummy myself!"

"You and what army!?"

"Me and this army!"

*Thunk*

"Argh. That hurt Rukia!"

"There's plenty more where that came from!"

A gleeful Yuusuke sat and watched the two squabble back and forth like an old married couple.

'This is the best comedy performance ever!' Yuusuke mused cheerfully, grinning like a loon.


	3. A Display a Day Keeps the Pigs Away

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Bleach**

**Guest: Yuusuke's original name was spelled the way I'm spelling it in the manga. The anime changed it to Yusuke for some reason. And no, Chad isn't Yuusuke's descendant. No one is.**

* * *

After Ichigo and Rukia had finished squabbling with each other Ichigo had relayed his past deeds and adventures he had experienced with the shinigami-lady as a shinigami himself to his uncle Yuusuke.

Ichigo started off with how he became a shinigami to his uncle Yuusuke.

It turned out Masaki was one hundred percent correct with what she told Yuusuke earlier that night.

Rukia did indeed use her powers to awaken Ichigo's because a hollow had crashed into their home and badly injured Rukia, to the point where she couldn't even cleanse a weak hollow by herself. The girl was weaker than Kuwabara was back when the ginger swordsman had first unlocked his own dormant powers. If Yuusuke would have to guess he'd class Rukia as a low E-class warrior.

Of course now that she doesn't have her powers anymore she wouldn't even scale on any of the classes, E-class obviously being the lowest. Anyone who was below that was a normal fighter.

After Rukia had turned up in Ichigo's school the very next day, Ichigo's journey as a shinigami truly began. It all started off when Ichigo was tasked with the responsibility of saving a kid's life, or soul in this case since the kid was already dead and in danger of being eaten by a hollow.

Yuusuke was very proud of Ichigo for going by his gut feeling in that situation when Ichigo told him he just acted on intuition by saving the spirit kid from becoming a part of the hollow by purifying it. It had nothing to do with duty; Ichigo just knew it was the right thing to do, like Rukia unlocking his powers by surrendering her own.

Duty was the last thing that was on Rukia's mind during the moment where she basically saved Ichigo's, Karin's, Yuzu's, and Masaki's lives. She knew it was right thing to do so she did it.

Yuusuke could certainly relate to that. He himself had given up his own life to save a kid's all on pure instinct. Afterward he felt miffed like no one's business when Botan informed him that the kid would've survived even if Yuusuke hadn't pushed him out of the way of the incoming car.

But even still, Yuusuke did what he did not because he had made an oath to be the righteous protector of the innocence but because he knew deep down, in his heart of hearts, that it wasn't right to let an innocent kid die if he could do something about it.

Heh. Yuusuke and Ichigo may not be blood related but Ichigo had certainly inherited Yuusuke's kind heart. But why wouldn't Ichigo inherit Yuusuke's heart? Yuusuke used to change Ichigo's diapers, bathe him, feed him, take him for walks, play with him, and put him to bed back when Ichigo was growing up in his toddler years.

Yuusuke was practically a second dad to Ichigo and his sisters.

Many of Ichigo's other adventures strengthened his resolve to do right as a shinigami and brought him closer to his friends. There was one where his good friend Sado had found a talking bird which turned out to be a normal bird with the spirit of a kid trapped inside of it.

Karin was getting all sorts of bad vibes from the bird and being spiritually aware she could tell the bird was really a boy trapped inside of the bird. Karin had begged Ichigo to help the poor boy while Ichigo was rushing her home.

The poor kid was tricked by a hollow who had murdered his mother back when they were all alive.

That filled Ichigo with a ton of rage and he ended up slicing the bastard hollow in two. The thing that intrigued Ichigo the most, though, was instead of the hollow known as Shrieker getting cleansed of his sins, he was casted away to the demonic-esque jail of hell, the gates even appeared to take him away. Rukia had explained to him if a hollow had committed a number of truly irredeemable sins then their souls get imprisoned in the depths of hell to rot for all eternity.

Good riddance to a truly monstrous hollow. Ichigo just hoped the kid who he had sent over to the Soul Society could find his mother and live in peace with her.

Karin was relieved when she felt the kid's presence fade peacefully from the world and over to heaven.

From there Ichigo discovered more mysteries of the once humans now creatures known as hollows when his classmate Orihime Inoue, who Yuusuke had saved that day, was attacked by her own brother after the man had come after Ichigo first after being turned into a hollow.

It was a despicable tactic made by the hollows to use someone Ichigo knew personally in the hopes Ichigo would hesitate and get eaten.

But Ichigo's resilience prevailed and overcame all (the) odds and Orihime even got closure with her beloved brother.

Then Ichigo met Kon after Rukia had mistakenly brought a packet of soul candy (deemed unsellable) from Urahara's candy shop because one of his cute little helpers made the mistake of giving Rukia 'faulty' merchandise.

From the look on Ichigo's face which Yuusuke thought was priceless it was clear that Ichigo didn't want to talk about it. That clicked off Kon who proceeded to go on a long rant about the things he did for Ichigo, and how Ichigo didn't appreciate him and Ichigo should respect the great Kon-sama, to which Ichigo zoned out for the most part until he retaliated with…

"Shut up, why did you think I kept you instead of letting Mr Hat-and-Clogs take you away to be destroyed?"

That was the million dollar question of the night which Kon figured out after a few seconds of pensive thinking. It was because Ichigo was a nice guy who really did care about the perverted mod soul even if he didn't show it.

Kon got all teary eyed and hugged Ichigo who dryly let out a quip which made his uncle laugh.

There was one adventure of Ichigo's in particular which Yuusuke took into serious consideration even if he didn't let it show to Ichigo.

XxX

**Chapter 3**

**A Display a Day Keeps the Pigs Away**

Blissful snoring echoed throughout Yuusuke's bedroom, the half demon sprawled out on his bed wearing nothing but a white vest and green boxers, a bubble blowing up and down on his nose as he slept. A picture of himself, his wife, Botan, Kurama, Kuwabara, and Hiei, (who was looking to the side like he didn't want to be there), was propped on a small set of Chester-draws next to his bed.

The sound of nails grinding on a chalkboard reverberated throughout the air and popped the bubble on Yuusuke's nose.

"Go away, I'll play the enforcer later," Yuusuke groaned, spinning away from the direction of his bedroom-window, his green blanket falling off of his bed.

Small thuds boomed off of the walls ever so slightly, then the same annoying sound as before echoed again, only _louder. _

Almost on instinct, Yuusuke stretched his arm back and grabbed his pillow, throwing it at the window, and rattling his lime green blinds, a flurry little black cat flinching out of surprise.

The screeching noise then became a less continuous, but more truculent noise.

"Okay, I'm getting up," Yuusuke assured lackadaisically, sitting up on his bed, "No need to bang out my window."

Yuusuke lifted his legs off of his bed, placing them on the floor while his hands covered his face. He ran his hands down his face as if it would wake him up, "It's too early for this, the loud-beaks ain't even fired off their morning calls yet," Yuusuke quipped, the drumming noise coming from the window increased.

"Alright already," Yuusuke said in a raised voice, a little bit of annoyance creeping into his voice, his hand smoothing back his usual gelled back hair which was a mess at the current moment.

Yuusuke stood up, yawning on his hike to his window. Once he pulled his blinds to the side, sunlight penetrated his messy room, and a pair of golden eyes looked teasing into his.

"Oh, it's you," Yuusuke grumbled, opening up the window, and losing his shoulder as a small black cat claimed it as her own, "Sup, Yo-Yo?"

"Is that anyway to speak to an old friend, Wolf-chan?" 'Yo-Yo' asked in a teasing manner, faking hurt in a voice which resembled a man, "And here I thought we were close friends. Oh how the years between us have been wasted."

Yuusuke cracked a smile at the cat's attempt to make him feel bad, "Sorry, Yoruichi-chan. I ain't exactly an early bird."

"So I see," Yoruichi said with a pointed look at Yuusuke's messy room, "It's like a pig's been living in here, Wolf-chan. Didn't your mama ever teach you the importance of keeping your room clean-," The cat then leaned in close to Yuusuke's ear, the tone of the cat's voice changing to an lecherous, female one, "-Just in-case a _special _friend ever wants to pop in and pay you a visit."

"Haha," Yuusuke chortled quietly, his eyes brightening up a little bit, "She did. Not like I ever listened to her. My room's the one safe place I don't have to keep spac and span, 'cause it's unlikely someone's gonna waltz on in here and start roaming around for evidence, if you get my drift."

Yoruichi hopped off of Yuusuke's shoulder, the cat's head turning from left to right a couple of times, "How disappointing. Your mother would be turning in her grave."

"Meh. I'm sure she'd be content with the knowledge that her little boy knows which parts of his apa-."

"Not that! I was talking about y-. Never-mind! Breakfast?"

"Sure," Yuusuke shrugged, giving the cat an all-knowing smirk as he waltzed on over to his door leading to the kitchen/living part of his apartment and pulled it open, revealing the spotless room of which he cooked and lived in, "Time to get the old machine running."

"I concur, Wolf-chan," Yoruichi smiled, thankful for the free meal she was getting from her long-time friend. The cat would've turned to the door to walk out if the cat's head hadn't been drawn to the picture containing Yuusuke and five others, "Wolf-chan?"

"Hmm?" Yuusuke wondered, poking his head around the corner, "What's bugging you?"

Yoruichi poked her little head in the direction of the picture, "Who are those people?"

"Oh. Well the three dudes are all my old brother-in-arms. The ginger-goof's name was Kuwabara, aka my punching bag. I lost count how many times I handed his ass to him! The grouchy black haired guy's name is Hiei, aka Mr Speedy Gonzales, try and avoid eating his dust," Yuusuke reminisced cheerfully.

Yoruichi had something to say about Speedy, "You think he could outpace me Wolf-chan?" Yoruichi asked in a challenging, yet seductive tone.

"Yep!" Yuusuke chirped confidently.

"How so?"

Yuusuke held up his index finger, "Unlike you Hiei can keep flowing at visible speeds like a tap letting out an endless, unlimited supply of water."

"Touché." Yoruichi conceded reluctantly, "Can your other two friends move like you and the uptight-one can?"

"Piece of cake," Yuusuke laughed and Yoruichi frowned.

Just how did her friend gain such unbelievable movement speed without the use of a speed technique?

"Anyway," Yuusuke pointed at the brown haired girl in between him and a blue haired lady, "You see that girl. The one I have my hand on?"

"Yep." Yoruichi clarified, gaining a mischievous glint in her eye, "I'm sensing a close attachment you had with that girl, correct?"

"You're hot."

"Hmm, girlfriend?"

"Whoa! Turn off the oven 'cause you're roasting!"

"Wife."

"Nailed it." Yuusuke grinned the cat's way, the cat returning it, then raised an eyebrow once Yuusuke's smiling look turned into a longing, affection one, his gaze held on his brown haired wife, "Yeah, my childhood sweetheart, Keiko. I'll tell ya I never once envisioned we would settle down with the amount of times we were at each throats back in my day, but whaddya know we ended up tying the knot."

Yuusuke released a breath as if he had accepted the fact that he would never see his beloved wife again.

"Worth it." Best seventy seven years of Yuusuke's long everlasting life were spent with Keiko.

"And the blue haired lady is?" Yoruichi asked.

"Huh? Oh that's Botan," Yuusuke told her, his head moving out of Yoruichi's sight, "Great gal."

Yoruichi nodded her head, following Yuusuke into the kitchen, "You talked like a few of your friends are no longer with you Wolf-chan."

Yuusuke walked over to his cupboard and opened it up, reaching into it to pull out a red bowl, "That's 'cause Keiko and Kuwabara ain't with me," Yuusuke informed the cat, a ghost of a smile on his face before it left his face to be replaced by a frown, "It's a darn shame too, because I would've loved for Keiko to meet her nieces, Princess and Firecracker."

"Normal humans don't have longevities like you, Wolf-chan," Yoruichi said.

"Yeah, 'cept Kuwabara was anything but a normal human. It was a roll in the park for him to outlast Keiko, but he was still human, an _abnormally _powerful one, but a human nonetheless. So he eventually kicked the bucket," Yuusuke said, walking over to his ice-making, frost-free silver refrigerator, swinging open the door and pulling out a carton of milk. Yoruichi watched Yuusuke with an pensive expression on her face. He always talked he wasn't even human, but he also had a way of mysteriously making her believe he wasn't a shinigami either. Just what was Yuusuke? If Yoruichi asked Yuusuke that she knew would've to reveal her own secrets to him.

It was best that they both keep their cards close to their chests so to be speak.

"Ah." Yuusuke grinned, shutting the refrigerator, then placing the bowl on the kitchen-top, "You're lucky I just happened to buy some milk from the gas station on the way from Isshin's," Yuusuke told her, opening the carton of milk and pouring some into the bowl.

"Ain't I lucky to have a friend who knows just what I like?" Yoruichi chirped as Yuusuke walked over to her, "Oh. You know how to treat a gal don't you Wolf-chan?"

"I dunno, you tell me," Yuusuke shot back coolly, squatting down and propping the bowl filled with milk in it in front of Yoruichi, "Bon appetite."

"My complimentary goes out to the chef," Yoruichi joked, lowering her head to the bowl to begin drinking the milk Yuusuke had poured out for her to drink.

"The chef is satisfied that you like it Yo-Yo, because passion goes into everything dish he whips up," Yuusuke joked in return, referring to himself in the third person. Yoruichi choked from the abrupt laughter which escaped her lips as milk was in her mouth at the time, "Hey, don't kill yourself, Yo-Yo."

Yoruichi looked up at Yuusuke, "Maybe I wouldn't have 'attempted' to kill myself if you wasn't such an expert comedian Funny-boy."

"You're looking at a class-A jokester," Yuusuke said jestingly, venturing over to the cupboard to pull out a big bowl.

"Don't I know it Mr Monkey," Yoruichi teased, contently going back to drinking her milk once Yuusuke flashed his wolf-fanged grin at her.

She looked up again at a heavy thud ringing through the air. Yoruichi wasn't surprised to see Yuusuke unscrewing a big bottle of milk, then lifting a box of cereal from the top of the cupboard before pouring all of it into the bowl. From there, Yuusuke emptied his bottle of milk into the bowl with a ravenous grin on his face.

"I gotta keep the old machine running," Yuusuke quipped cheerfully, taking out a spoon from the draw and casually walking over to his sofa where he sat down and placed his bowl on his coffee table.

"Is that your training to be a sumo wrestler, Wolf-chan?"

"Ah! You got jokes."

"It's why you love me."

"Was there any doubt I didn't?"

Yoruichi's answer was a teasing grin.

She and Yuusuke were like two peas in a pod.

XxX

A spoon fell lifelessly into an empty plastic bowl as a content burp echoed throughout the air.

"Ah! My batteries are fully charged now," Yuusuke said brightly, patting his stomach then throwing his arms to the side of his sofa in a laid back manner.

"Good to see you got your fill in for the morning Wolf-chan," Yoruichi commented, having licked the last bit of milk from her bowl, "Thanks for the milk."

"Any time cat," Yuusuke winked at Yoruichi, receiving a nod from her, "So now that we're revitalized why you don't lemme in on the reason for your visit to my place… Not that I'm complaining mind you."

"Good to hear it," Yoruichi said, hopping up onto Yuusuke's table, "I'd hate to think you were labelling little old me as a freeloader now, Wolf-chan."

"Oh no, I know you wouldn't do that. Just curious, is this a social visit or are you here on business, eh?" Yuusuke asked. Yoruichi wobbled her head from side to side, an pensive expression on her face as her lips curled up in thought.

"A little bit of both," Yoruichi admitted.

"I see," Yuusuke nodded, "Go on, might as well let the cat outta the bag now, Yo-Yo."

"Cheeky," Yoruichi chided the man jokingly.

"It's my middle name."

"Hasn't that already been made crystal clear?" Yoruichi joked, causing Yuusuke to shrug his shoulders in mocked innocence, "Anyway, the reason for my intrusion is because I decided to play the role of the delivery cat."

"Heh. Alright little miss delivery woman, whatcha got for me?" Yuusuke asked in a playful manner.

"A heads up."

"A heads up?"

"Yes. Kisuke and I strongly believe the execution squad may come for Rukia Kuchiki sometime day. We believe it'll be best if you kept your senses alerted. Kisuke says your nephew will want to protect Rukia out of proper courtesy," Yoruichi relayed the info she'd been tasked to give to Yuusuke.

"Yeah, my noggin's been working overtime on that," Yuusuke yawned, more from the lack of sleep than from boredom, "I decided to play watch guard when Sport told me about his daily routine as a shinigami. One day in particular set the alarm bells off in my head."

"A shinigami came to check on Rukia, right?" Yoruichi asked.

"Yeah. They've obviously sniffed around, very Scooby Doo-esque, to unveil this mystery," Yuusuke grumbled, a serious look on his face.

"What's your plan of action Wolf-chan?" Yoruichi asked.

"Isn't it obvious? Gotta do what any loving uncle would do. Sport's as stubborn as a mule. He's gonna try and fend 'em off on his own. So I'll be the cavalry, and shoo the shinigami away," Yuusuke grinned.

"You certainly seem to know your nephew's strengths," Yoruichi said.

"Yeah. Sport showed real promise yesterday during the party of the small fries, and he has an ocean amount of reiki, a shit-ton more than I had when I was his age. However, he's not ready for the real-deal just yet. His movement is like a street fighter, his speed's nada, and to top it all off he has zero control over his own energy! Nil, nada," Yuusuke finished, moving his hand across his throat in a chain-saw motion.

"He sounds like a greenhorn," Yoruichi smiled, a mischievous glint shining in her eyes, "I love me my freshmen. They're so full of innocence to explore."

"Hehe. You can have at Sport all you want while I'm whipping him up into shape after I get through throwing away the trash tonight," Yuusuke paved the way for his dear friend to embarrass his nephew with a smirk on his face.

"Aw. You're gonna put your cute little nephew through military school, are ya?" Yoruichi purred.

"I'm gonna have to, otherwise he'll be used as a meat-shield the time the Soul Society get around to sending more of their troops to take Rukia back," Yuusuke stated, getting goose-bumps at the prospect of fighting a couple of warriors, "I can do with a workout myself. It's not often I get a golden chance to let loose somewhat."

"I like the sound of that Wolf-chan. How about we have ourselves a little match before the time comes for you to show your nephew, or should I say disciple, how a pro does it?" Yoruichi suggested and Yuusuke blinked.

"Right now?"

"Yeah. I suppose you could say I'm feeling lucky."

A smirk came to Yuusuke's features as he stood up, "You're on. Jeez. I sure hope dark clouds won't appear after I beat ya."

"Oh haha, but perhaps you might want to save that one for yourself," Yoruichi suggested. Yuusuke gave her a grin as he started to walk off in the direction of his window, not realizing what he was still wearing, "You sure you want to go out like that? Not that I'm _complaining."_

That stopped Yuusuke in his tracks as he looked himself over, "Heh…" Yuusuke let out humourlessly, "Guess I'll put on some clothes." He turned to Yoruichi, "You gonna transform?"

Yoruichi jumped onto the floor, landing by his bedroom door, "Not in front of your eyes, pervert."

"Aww, don't be hatin'. You asked for a massage and I obliged. Simple." Yuusuke explained, holding his arms up.

"I wanted a blush out of you not a spank on my ass. I ain't a grade school student mister," Yoruichi said, receiving a wide grin from Yuusuke before she ventured into his room and made sure to close the door.

Her little body glowed a luminous blue light after she double checked to make sure Yuusuke wasn't in the room. Her body grew, and expanded in height and length as she stood up on two feet and not four. Once the light died down a beautiful woman was in place instead of a cat with a masculine voice.

Yoruichi Shihōin had an hour-glass figure, her breasts were DD-cup, her flawless skin which wasn't bound by clothing was dark chocolate, her long purple hair was tied in a ponytail, and she still had her golden cat slits just like when she was in cat-form.

"I think I'm losing my touch. I'm going to have to find a way to make Wolf-chan embarrassed," Yoruichi said to herself, a challenging smirk on her face which immediately turned into a gasp as she felt a stinging sensation on her rear end, her backside shaking slightly. Her hands grasped her butt as she looked in the direction of the door, finding it open.

"You can say that again," Yuusuke grinned, shaking the offending hand he used to spank Yoruichi's ass, "Hey, it jiggles like jelly!"

"Pervert," Yoruichi mumbled, her eye-twitching in irritation and a tick mark enveloped on her head. Yuusuke grinned at her in a cheeky manner, watching her open up the window, still butt naked, and disappear into the distance. To the normal human-eye it looked as If Yoruichi simply teleported.

But compared to Yuusuke's speed she might as well have been moving in slow motion.

"She'll Shunpo back in a jiffy," Yuusuke mentioned idly, vanishing from sight.

The moment he reappeared was the moment Yoruichi reappeared, both full dressed and ready for action.

"I timed that well didn't I? What's wrong old man? Is old age slowing you down?" Yoruichi asked teasingly, wearing an orange ninja-like top, a black sleeveless top underneath the orange top, a beige scarf wrapped around her neck, a beige sash tied around her waist, tight black pants emphasising her curves and ass, and black sandals on her feet.

"Wouldn't you know, grandma?" Yuusuke joked, causing Yoruichi to cringe. Yuusuke was wearing a white t shirt underneath a navy blue jacket, blue jeans, a golden watch on his waist, and white and black sneakers on his feet.

"I'm going to remember that one when you're screaming for me to slow down for you," Yoruichi smirked in a playful manner.

"Heh. You can talk but can you walk?" Yoruichi playfully stuck her tongue out at Yuusuke, "Ready when you are," Yuusuke assured, casually sauntering around his apartment while picking up his mobile phone, wallet, and keys. He let out a sigh once he heard the sound of Yoruichi's Shunpo echoing throughout the air.

"It's time to roll up the sleeves and kick my butt into gear."

XxX

Yuusuke was sat in a lotus position on top of a huge mountain on the outskirts of Karakura Town, his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes closed as he cleared his mind.

He didn't even flinch once he heard a burst of a Shunpo.

"What took you so long? I almost died of old age here," Yuusuke joked, not opening his eyes as he felt Yoruichi's presence beside him.

Yoruichi huffed, a playful look plastered on her beautiful face, "I actually was waiting for you, _grandpa_, since you appeared to be lost. That comes as no surprise considering your age. I decided to crash out underneath a tree and wait for you to find your way."

"Ha!"

"Don't let your guard down Wolf-chan because this young gal's got a few tricks to unleash on you." Yoruichi assured, trying to change the subject of Yuusuke easily outpacing her to get to the battlefield first.

Yuusuke's eyes opened up, a grin coming to his face as he stood up, rotating his arm in a circular motion, "Alright, it's good to see you still got some bite left in you after finishing in second place in our race. Guess the hare actually had a noggin eh?" Yoruichi Shunpo'd, Yuusuke's eyes easily tracking her ghostly movement and ended up leaning his head to the side, a tanned fist now hovering above his shoulder.

"Struck a nerve did I?" Yuusuke taunted her in good spirits.

"A bit." Yoruichi purred sweetly, Shunpo-ing again while Yuusuke hopped back, Yoruichi crash landing into the ground and making debris dust flow into the air, a crater now in the ground, "Oh you're good!"

"I aim to please!"

"I would like to know," Yoruichi purred lecherously, Yuusuke turning his head to wink at her, "Ah. Now it's reveal psychology, eh?" Yoruichi asked teasingly, vanishing from sight via Shunpo, the air becoming (more) denser as Yoruichi insanely cork-rolled her body in the direction of Yuusuke's back, 'Now I've gotcha, Wolf-chan.'

Yoruichi's legs touched Yuusuke's back, then slowly began to ghost through it to Yoruichi's great surprise. Then a gasp came out of her mouth when she felt two solid hands grab her arms, forcing her to the ground and spewing dust everywhere.

"Maybe I'll show you sometime… that is, if you're lucky," Yuusuke teased, his tone slightly seductive as he pinned Yoruichi down in a very compromising position, his heated breath on Yoruichi's neck which caused a blush to appear on Yoruichi's face.

'Damn it. He's beating me on my own game. Okay, Yoruichi, you can do this. You've just got to stay calm,' Yoruichi mused, trying to rile herself up. It would help if Yuusuke stopped looking at her with that good-looking face of his, "I bet you'd know, wouldn't you Wolf-chan?"

Yuusuke grinned innocently, hopping to his feet and placing his hands on his hips, "Hmm? I ain't sure what you mean dear."

'Oh you are very good,' Yoruichi admitted mentally, smirking challengingly, "No problem, old timer. You probably left your hearing-aid at home."

"Ouch. You're a naughty girl, ain't ya?" Yuusuke questioned.

"I bet you like naughty girls, don't you Wolf-chan?" Yoruichi asked teasingly. Her eyes widened once Yuusuke disappeared like he wasn't there. Her rear-end was left jigging from a hard right slap delivered to it.

"I think that righteous punishment I gave ya answers your question," Yuusuke said, snickering deviously while holding up the accusing hand which he used to spank Yoruichi's ass.

"Pervert." Yoruichi grumbled.

Yoruichi Shunpo'd directly in front of Yuusuke and attempted to take out his legs, but the half demon/half troll leaped up, then he quickly shifted his body to the side to avoid a quick roundhouse kick Yoruichi had attempted to hit him with.

Upon hitting the ground, Yuusuke was immediately put on the defence by Yoruichi who launched a speedy barrage of kicks and punches, every single one of them being blocked by Yuusuke's mere index fingers, forcing Yoruichi to grit her teeth but otherwise smirk at the challenge to land a blow on Yuusuke… just one.

Yoruichi did a mazy flip into the air, showing off her elegance in battle. The moment her feet touched the ground was the moment her right leg was sent out to nail Yuusuke's back. Problem was Yuusuke was no longer standing in the position he was in while Yoruichi flipped over his head.

"Oh he is a sneaky one," Yoruichi smirked lecherously, shifting her head from side to side in search of Yuusuke.

"Up here!" Yuusuke shouted from above and Yoruichi gasped as she looked upwards and saw Yuusuke anchoring downwards to her, his right hand clenched into a fist and flames of heat shrouding his form.

Yoruichi didn't want none of that so she Shunpo'd out of the vicinity, leaving Yuusuke's fist to slam into the mountain, a massive hole appearing on top of the mountain, cracks forming all over it, then the unthinkable happened. The mountain was shattered into nothing more but tiny pieces of pebbles.

"Wow," Yoruichi awed from where she was standing on thin air, Shunpo-ing to the side of Yuusuke who had just goofily whipped his fist out of the surface of the mountain side which had a ton of pebbles on it, "Someone has anger issues. Care to talk about them?"

"I think it's all spent." Yuusuke joked.

"Along with the emergency supply," Yoruichi quipped, chuckling as did Yuusuke, only stopping because Yuusuke felt his leg tingle from the vibrations which was coming from his leg.

"Someone's trying to get in touch with me," Yuusuke stated, blinking his eyes, his hand moving into his pocket and coming out to reveal a black LG lit-up, vibrating flip-up phone. Yuusuke grinned at the caller ID, casually flipping up his phone and bringing it to his ear, "Hello! You've reached Urameshi! What can I do for ya, sis?"

"_Pleasure to hear from you too, bro," _Masaki giggled over the line, "_I was wondering if you could walk Yuzu-chan home after school for me. Isshin won't_ _be finished work until later, and I would rather not have Yuzu-chan walking home by herself after what happened yesterday."_

"And Firecracker?"

"_She'll be attending soccer practice until late. Isshin-koi can pick her up though. I just need Yuzu-chan picked up from school if it's not too much to ask Yuusuke-oniisama." _Masaki hoped.

"Alright, no problemo, I'll catch ya later," Yuusuke agreed.

"_hurrah! You're the best Yuusuke-oniisama. I'm cooking tonight, I'll make sure to prepare an extra dish for you_." Masaki chirped.

"I'll look forward to it. Later," Yuusuke said coolly.

"_Love you, bro_."

With that the call effectively ended between Yuusuke and Masaki.

"Ah," Yuusuke sighed, putting away his phone, "The things I do."

"Aw, it sounds like your sister's got you running ragged, Wolf-chan," Yoruichi teased as Yuusuke started walking away from her.

"Yeah, I count my lucky stars I ain't a sack of bones now," Yuusuke joked, receiving a chuckle out of Yoruichi, "I gotta pick up Princess in a while. Catch you later."

"Perhaps then we can conclude our _private_ rumble without interruptions next time we meet up."

Yuusuke tossed a lazy wave over his shoulder, "Yeah, and I might just show you half of my full power."

"Huh?" He meant all that time they were fighting and he wasn't even fighting half serious, "Hey, wait a minute Wo-."

But Yuusuke was gone like the wind.

"Oh that Wolf-chan. I'll get him yet."

XxX

(Later That Day – Karakura Middle School)

The school bell reverberated throughout the air and content kids ran out of the building, the boys were wearing dark blue blazer jackets, matched by dark blue trousers, and black shoes, and the girls were wearing light blue dresses over white dress shirts, and shoes on their feet.

Yuzu strolled out of the school building wearing her uniform and holding her school bag in her grip, two girls flanked on either side of her chatting away with Yuzu regarding the day, and what each would do when they got home.

Only when the sun hit young Yuzu's face did the girl look ahead of herself, gasping before her eyes brightened at the sight of her wonderful uncle standing by the school gates with a pair of blue sunglasses over his eyes.

"Yuusuke-ojisama!" Yuzu cheered, receiving curious looks from her friends and several others around her as she took off to greet her beloved uncle.

"Hey there Yuzu-hime," Yuusuke greeted casually, squatting down to Yuzu's level once the girl approached him, a smile on her face as Yuusuke's hands gently smothered her shoulders, "Did you have a pleasant day at school?"

"Hmm!" Yuzu nodded her head vigorously, "I got an A on today's history's test," The demure girl tore her eyes away from Yuusuke's, lowering her head to the ground as if she was afraid she wouldn't get the response she was looking for from Yuusuke.

"Atta girl, you're the real-deal," Yuusuke grinned, making a light blush appear across Yuzu's face, "Keep that up, and I guarantee you'll be rolling around in the dosh soon enough."

"K!"

Yuusuke rose up, his shadow covering Yuzu's small frame, "Shall we, Princess?" One of Yuzu's hands came off of her bag, stretching out to Yuusuke in a flat open palm. Yuusuke gave Yuzu a soft wolf grin, propping his hand on Yuzu's and instantly felt the squeeze that the girl had given him, "And we're off."

Yuzu waved goodbye to her friends and was escorted home by her uncle.

XxX

(Much Later That Day)

Never one to be wrong in his predictions, the genius man known as Kisuke Urahara whom intelligence rivalled Kurama's proved to be partly correct. Rukia herself even had a hunch that a pair of shinigami-warriorswere coming to apprehend her, which was why she took off during (the) sun-set giving Yuusuke no time to eat the wonderful dinner Masaki had made for her family.

Rukia just never expected it to be those two, which tied into the reason why Kisuke was partly correct since he predicted the execution squad would come for Rukia. A pair of shinigami-warriors had come for Rukia, they just wasn't from the execution squad and actually knew Rukia on a personal level.

One was a tall red haired man who had an arrogant smirk on his lips. A pair of binoculars on his forehead, covering his tribal-like markings, his long red spiky hair was styled in a pineapple-esque ponytail. He wore a black kimono top, a pair of black hakama, and wooden sandals. His Zanpakuto resembled a katana, had a tsuba hilt and a red sheath.

The man standing beside the red haired man shocked Rukia the most. His eyes were as cold as steel itself, his long black hair was done up neatly, and kept that way by intricate headpieces; a fancy scarf was wrapped around his neck, and he wore the exact same outfit as the red haired man, with the only difference being the fact the black haired man also wore a white haori with the symbol for captain over his kimono-top.

His own Zanpakuto also resembled a katana.

After a brief discussion, it was revealed that the red haired man was known as Renji Abarai, a childhood friend of Rukia's who had stayed by her side through thick and thin in their childhood years growing in the wandering soul city, but unfortunately for Renji he could not follow her on the noble path of Kuchiki after the black haired man, Byakuya Kuchiki, adopted Rukia into the Kuchiki clan, thereby making her a Kuchiki.

Renji was so disappointed in his old friend. Just what the hell was the matter with her? Letting her powers be stolen by a disgusting _human? Disgraceful. _Now Renji had to try and bail her out of trouble by bringing her back to the Soul Society, then find the human who stole Rukia's power and kill him.

That would teach the bastard not to mess with his friend.

Not that Rukia needed to know that. As far as Renji was concerned he would keep up his tough guy façade by allowing Rukia to believe that he was bringing her back to the Soul Society to be executed for the crime of transferring her powers over to a human of all the things.

"Show yourself. I know you're there." Byakuya suddenly demanded, gaining curious looks from Renji and Rukia while a battered Uryu laid near his feet, the honourable boy had tried to defend Rukia, but failed miserably. He laid there on the ground waiting to be killed by Renji, but fortunately was spared because Renji had his Zanpakuto deflected by a mere pebble.

A pair of hands reached out of a tall tree, then a head poked itself upwards to reveal a sheepish look on the face of the head, "Haha. You got me. Guess the detective life's not my thing eh?" Yuusuke joked, hopping out of the tree, making Rukia blink and Renji growl with a look of annoyance on his face.

"Yuusuke?" Rukia wondered, getting a wave from Yuusuke who ventured over to her, "What are you doing here?"

Yuusuke wiggled his finger chidingly, "Come now, I couldn't let my future niece-in-law get her cute little ass dragged back to 'heaven' by the pigs," Yuusuke chuckled, making Renji seethe furiously while Byakuya's icily cold look didn't change for a second.

"WE'RE NOT IN LOVE!" Rukia shouted, a tick mark on her head, trying to hit Yuusuke but the man leaned his head to the side with a teasing look plastered on his face.

"Sure you're not. I can totally buy that," Yuusuke said sarcastically, "Denial is the early stages of love. You gotta learn to crawl before you can walk Junior." Rukia lowered her head, her hands balled up into fists.

"But I told you I don't hold those kind of feelings for Ichigo," Rukia grumbled.

"Is that your final answer?" Yuusuke trolled and Rukia glared at him, "Hahahaha!"

"Who is this guy?" Renji asked Byakuya, looking unamused, "I've just met him and already I'm getting sick and tired of him. Hey! Human, you better move out of the way otherwise I'll kill you and send you packing to the Soul Society!" Renji warned.

Yuusuke gave Renji a serious look for just a brief moment before waving him off, frustrating him.

"Argh, wave me off will ya! Now I'm gonna kill you," Renji threatened, bringing his Zanpakuto from his shoulder, raising his eyebrow once Yuusuke shot his hand outward, "Heh. Having second thoughts, are ya?"

"Nope!" Yuusuke assured him cheerfully, "It's just that someone else would like to have a crack at you first."

That confused Renji and Rukia until a figure crashed into the ground in front of them, forcing Rukia to scream while covering her forehead with her arm, Renji also doing the same. Yuusuke and Byakuya merely rode the storm calmly, one grinning at the boy holding a huge Zanpakuto on his shoulder, and the other one showing no signs of emotion whatsoever.

"Ichigo," Rukia murmured.

"What the hell? Look at the size of that Zanpakuto," Renji gaped at Ichigo, "The size of a Zanpakuto reflects a shinigami's spiritual pressure. How did some newbie, baby-faced, pip-tweak greenhorn kid like you get a Zanpakuto that big?" Renji asked.

"So you're saying I got a big one. Funny, because I was just thinking this thing looks huge in comparison to Rukia's," Ichigo grumbled. Those words seemed to click something in Renji's head, "Not that I've given much thought anyway." Renji turned his eyes to Rukia, but the girl looked away while holding her arm.

"Huh? That's right. You're the human who took Rukia's power away from her!" Renji stated angrily.

"Oh no," Rukia said worriedly.

"This is rich! Come then! I'll take you both on! There's no way you two can handle a vice-captain of the Gotei 13!" Renji yelled arrogantly.

That confused Ichigo. Was Renji really expecting Rukia to fight him alongside Ichigo? Gritting his teeth, Ichigo almost jumped out of his skin from a firm tap on his shoulder.

"Don't let him psyche ya out Sport," Yuusuke advised.

Ichigo turned to look at Yuusuke, "Uncle Wolf?"

"That's my name don't wear it out doc," Yuusuke quipped.

"Did you know these guys were coming for Rukia?" Ichigo asked.

"Yeah, something like that," Yuusuke replied somewhat sheepishly. He then shook his head, "Never mind that, you got a match to complete in," Yuusuke put his hands on Ichigo's head, spinning Ichigo's head around to look at Renji, then Yuusuke left a hand on Ichigo's shoulder and used his other one to point at Renji's scowling face, "You see that guy?"

"Yeah."

Ichigo stumbled forward from a tap on his back given to him by his uncle, "Go get him."

Rukia gulped while Ichigo spun around, "Hey, what did you do that for?"

Yuusuke gave Ichigo a smirk while Renji grimaced at him, "I got your back Sport. Go wild on that guy."

Ichigo gave his uncle a curious look before turning to face the red haired shinigami, 'If Uncle Wolf believes I can beat this guy, then I guess I gotta give it my best shot, for Rukia after all. I owe her that much,' Ichigo mused rationally, bringing his Zanpakuto in front of himself and tightening his grip on the hilt of his Zanpakuto, a fire of resolution in his eyes, 'Right. I can't let Uncle Wolf down or let Rukia be taken away either!'

"Seriously?" Renji deadpanned, "You actually have the audacity to go up against me kid. Heh. What makes you think you can beat a lieutenant?"

Ichigo shrugged, "Dunno. Instincts I guess."

"Heh, like Instincts are going to save you from getting sliced alive by me!" Renji roared, running forward to Ichigo, Zanpakuto in his grip.

"Guess we'll see for ourselves," Ichigo grumbled, clashing swords with Renji, Rukia flinching from the two swords clashing together and making sparks fly through the air.

"Heh. You're pretty good for a rookie, kid," Renji complimented Ichigo reluctantly, smirking at him.

"Thanks, I guess," Ichigo returned, pushing away from Renji who let out a war-cry as he forced Ichigo on the defence with his Zanpakuto held above his shoulder, bringing it toward Ichigo who took evasive action by rolling to the side.

"Heh. Is dodging the best you can do, kid?" Renji asked tauntingly, turning his head to give Ichigo a cool look, "Heh. You might as well save yourself the trouble if this is the best you've got. The expenses for your funeral are already sky high. I'm going to _hate _to see how high it is after I'm through with you."

Renji said no more as Ichigo's Zanpakuto collided with his own, "You talk too much."

"Heh. And here I thought I was being nice by delaying your death," Renji jeered, "So much for good will eh!?"

"Shut up and fight!" Ichigo yelled, lifting up his foot and sticking it to Renji's tummy, shoving the shinigami back a bit to his annoyance. Ichigo leaped forward, holding his Zanpakuto over his shoulder to bash Renji in his face using his elbow, knocking his head to the side.

'Damn it! It's like this human just got stronger all of a sudden! Okay, two can play that game!' Renji mused, gritting his teeth. He blocked an upwards slash from Ichigo by holding his Zanpakuto horizontally, "Don't think you can beat an lieutenant of the Gotei 13 with stolen power, human!" Rukia flinched at Renji's warning.

"Guess we'll just have to see, eh partner?" Ichigo smirked.

"Okay, now I really am going to kill you…" Renji muttered, repeatedly slamming his Zanpakuto against Ichigo's, forcing Ichigo to gnash his teeth as he slid back on the balls of his feet.

'Renji's a lieutenant now. Can Ichigo really beat him?' Rukia mused, worriedly watching Ichigo holding off Renji's fierce barrage of furious strikes, 'You don't have to protect me Ichigo. Just run.'

"Sport, Sport, he's our man, if he can't do it then no one can! Yay Sport!" Yuusuke cheered, using his index and middle fingers on both of his hands to form a couple of scissors before moving them up and down in sync with his cheer. A bead of sweat rolled off of the back of Rukia's head while Byakuya didn't even bat an eyelash at Yuusuke's antics.

'Why is he so calm? Does he honestly believe Ichigo can beat Renji?' Rukia thought, looking at a grinning Yuusuke and then switched her gaze to her stoic brother, 'And what about nii-sama?' A saddened look came to Rukia's face looking at her brother who didn't show the slightest bit of concern or regret on his face despite her predicament.

"What's the matter fraud? Can't you handle the heat?" Renji taunted, belligerently pushing Ichigo back to the slope with his wild strikes smacking against Ichigo's Zanpakuto, sparks flaring mightily between the two weapons.

'He's right. I'm gonna get pushed over at this rate.' Ichigo admitted mentally, gnashing his teeth as his feet neared the edge of the slope. Using his animal-like instincts, Ichigo waited until Renji withdrew his Zanpakuto to strike him again, quickly shifting the position of his Zanpakuto vertically to the side, Renji whiskers away from taking a free shot at Ichigo's thorax.

With his arm muscles straining, Ichigo started to turn the tide after weathering the storm.

Growling, Renji battled not to have his strike forced out by Ichigo, the two warriors in a struggle to see which one would parry the other, thus giving one of them the opportunity to strike.

"Fool!" Renji had enough as he stomped his sandaled foot down hard on Ichigo's foot. Ichigo let out a pained grunt as his guard weakened, satisfying Renji who sank his knee into Ichigo's stomach, forcing saliva out of Ichigo's mouth and bringing the kid to his knees. Ichigo scowled up at Renji, gripping his Zanpakuto and hoping to catch Renji by surprise, "It's pointless!" But Renji had experience. Renji blindly sliced Ichigo's shoulder open, blood spraying from Ichigo's shoulder as he dropped his Zanpakuto.

"Ichigo!" Rukia yelled, trying to run to Ichigo's side but Yuusuke stopped her by ensnarling her waist with his hand. She rotated her head in Yuusuke's direction, seeing the man shaking his head at her with a serious look on his face.

"Stay right here. This brawl's not over yet," Yuusuke stated.

"Yuusuke," Rukia whispered. Yuusuke looked over at the bloodied and defeated Uryu, causing a look of regret to appear on Rukia's face before finding herself lifted into Yuusuke's arms, confusion evident on her face as her vision spun rapidly.

Byakuya's eyes widened at the sight of Yuusuke's speed, 'That didn't sound like a Shunpo,' Byakuya mused calmly, observing the area for Yuusuke and discovering that the injured Uryu was no longer at his side, 'He slipped past my defences so effortlessly,' Byakuya closed his eyes, rationalizing his and Renji's chances of completing this mission.

Renji lifted his Zanpakuto on his shoulder, "You stupid boy! You should've just stayed away! Rukia came out here by herself just to see to it that you stayed safe!"

Ichigo's eyes widened as he turned to look in Rukia's direction, 'Where is she?' A panic was written on Ichigo's face as he looked frantically around for his friend.

"Yo," Ichigo whipped his head around at the sound of his uncle's voice, sighing in relief at the sight of his uncle giving him a two-fingered salute while sitting next to Rukia who was on her knees checking on the injured Uryu, "Looking for us?"

"How in the hell did you get there without us noticing?" Renji wondered belligerently, Yuusuke faking a pensive look on his face while tapping his fingers on his chin for emphasis.

"Hmm. Jeez I dunno, Mr Slowpoke. Why don't you tell me?" Yuusuke jeered.

Renji was shaking with anger, a beasty smirk forming across his features, "That's it. I'm going to slice and dice you two into pieces! Then Rukia will come back to the Soul Society, regain her powers, and _die_!" Renji's anger soon turned into a shocked look from a shiny white glow appearing in his line of sight, forcing him to step back or risk getting cut by Ichigo.

A tickle of blood ran was running down (from) Renji's forehead, his binoculars falling off of his forehead and to the ground.

"Sorry," Ichigo apologized, "It's just that you left yourself wide open I couldn't help myself."

"You let your guard down Renji," Byakuya stated calmly, making Renji look at him, "This young man I believe Soul Society's gotten wind of. There was a report from the Secret remote squad. He was able to purify hordes and hordes of hollows without tiring himself out," Byakuya's cold steely eyes turned to Yuusuke while Renji looked oddly at Ichigo, "The report also says that man was not only able to force a cero of a Menos Grande back into its mouth but also eradicated it flawlessly."

"No way," Renji gawked horrifyingly, trembling, "That's impossible."

"Glad to see you heard of me," Yuusuke grinned.

"Fool. I didn't come here for your autograph, I was sent to uphold the law of the Soul Society by apprehending Rukia," Byakuya murmured coldly, making Rukia flinch.

"Wow, you sure are reaching for the stars," Yuusuke laughed, "All the more power to ya."

"Are you implying I'm incapable of bringing Rukia back to the Soul Society?" Byakuya asked as if to make sure that was a bad joke coming from the arrogant mouth of Yuusuke.

"You hit the nail on the head genius," Yuusuke answered mockingly.

"Don't mock us, human!" Renji raged, back-flipping onto the railing and leaping at Yuusuke, Zanpakuto held above his head as a furious expression was on his features, "You're just a human! What makes you think you can beat a shinigami huh?"

"No!" Ichigo growled, trying to run to intercept Renji but it was clear that he wasn't going to make it.

Yuusuke yawned, a hand lazily on his cheek, his other hand covering his mouth before Yuusuke shoot it outwards in such a calm manner it appeared as if Yuusuke had lazily moved his hand in front of himself. Renji's Zanpakuto collided with Yuusuke's hand, failing to move it in the slightest as Renji's feet touched the grass.

"WHAT?" Renji yelled. Ichigo and Rukia could only look on in sheer awe. Yuusuke had effortlessly stopped Renji's strike with nothing more but his bare hand, "Just what the hell are you?"

'Ichigo's uncle is strong,' Rukia mused, gaping.

Yuusuke calmly closed his hand, trapping Renji's Zanpakuto in his grip, "Hey, Sport?"

Ichigo snapped out of his stupor, "Y-yeah Uncle Wolf?"

"Don't take this personally, alright? You showed real promise of becoming the real-deal tonight. You're steadily making your way up the ladder of starry glory, but right now you're a freshman," Yuusuke looked at Ichigo with a teasing smirk on his features, "You still need to be broken in. You hear?"

Ichigo nodded his head slowly. Yuusuke had shown him glimpses of his power like the time when he took out that hollow called Grand Fisher who'd tricked Ichigo by projecting an image of a little girl standing by a river. His mother was just inches away from getting taken out by Grand Fisher after she'd managed to get between it and Ichigo, but lucky once Ichigo turned around he saw his uncle coolly standing behind him and his mother, his arm easily blocking Grand Fisher's claw like it was child's play.

Yuusuke smiled at Ichigo, his smile hardening into a smirk as he looked at the struggling Renji, "Good, just let uncle take out the trash Sport. I'll have this wrapped up in a jiffy."

"Don't insult me!" Renji scowled, trying to pull his Zanpakuto, "Let go already!"

'Renji can't even force his Zanpakuto away from Yuusuke,' Rukia mused, watching as Yuusuke stood up, his grip ever so firm on the blade of Renji's Zanpakuto, 'How can Yuusuke hold Renji's Zanpakuto without getting cut?'

"Make me." Yuusuke dared him.

"Fine!" Renji conceded grumpily, releasing one of his hands from his Zanpakuto to run it along his Zanpakuto, making it shape-shift to a sort of chain-saw-esque sword, "**Roar: Zabimaru**!" Renji's Zanpakuto, now known as Zabimaru, glowed red and attempted to push Yuusuke back by extending in length, but failed as _it _got hurt. This had the unique effect of making blood burst out of Renji's hands, lifelessly dripping onto the green grass, "Argh…"

'Renji's reiatsu got hurt colliding with Yuusuke's!' Rukia gawked.

"Whoa! The guy's sword shape-shifted!" Ichigo gaped.

"Well, duh, didn't you know it was in its sealed state kid?" Renji growled through grit teeth, 'Damn that hurt! Just how much reiatsu has this guy got?!"

Ichigo blinked his eyes, "Huh? Sealed state?"

"Ha! You're telling me you've been impersonating as a shinigami for this long and you didn't even know that it was in its sealed state! What an amateur! I bet you're going to tell me next that you don't even know your Zanpakuto's name!" Renji mocked Ichigo.

Ichigo blinked again, "A name? Zanpakutos have names?" Ichigo looked at his one in wonder.

"Dumbass! And to think you had the audacity to even touch my Zanpakuto with that unknown one you hu-." Renji's words died right there, the sharp knee of Yuusuke being driven directly in his stomach forced air and blood out of his mouth. An loud obnoxious sound of cracking bones could be heard by Rukia, Ichigo, Byakuya, and Renji.

"You're in no position to talk-the-talk when you can't even walk-the-walk," Yuusuke said darkly, making Rukia gulp. She couldn't even see Yuusuke's knee move much less hammer Renji's tummy with it.

"D-damn," Renji snarled, coughing out blood, 'Every time I breathe I feel like someone's taking his Zanpakuto and is repeatedly stabbing me in my gut!'

Yuusuke raised his free fist, making horror appear on Renji's features, "It's time to switch the lights off Junior, nighty night, and don't let the bed bugs bite," Yuusuke remarked seriously, making panic appear on Renji's face, beads of sweat rolling in between his scared-filled eyes. But instead of silencing Renji a scowl of annoyance appeared on Yuusuke's features, a flying blur dashing towards Ichigo.

"Oh no you don't, bitch," Yuusuke mumbled, blurring from sight and taking Renji with him.

"Where'd he go?" Ichigo wondered.

"Ichigo!"

"What?"

"Look!"

Ichigo looked to where Rukia was pointing and instantly blanched at the sight before him, "Uncle Wolf?" Ichigo squeaked. Yuusuke was in front of him, Renji held in his right hand like a carrier bag and his left hand holding onto Byakuya's sword, 'Hold on a minute. If Uncle Wolf hadn't jumped in front of me then that guy would've sliced my ass like an onion.' Ichigo gulped.

Good old Uncle Wolf.

"So you thought you'd try and play my game eh?" Yuusuke mumbled calmly.

"Affirmative fool. If you want to attack my subordinate then I see no reason why I shouldn't blindside yours," Byakuya stated emotionlessly.

"Good point," Yuusuke admitted with a grin on his face.

Captain-Kuchiki," Renji grumbled, feeling pitiful for being manhandled by a human.

"You got careless Renji. You attacked recklessly without knowing your opponent's strengths," Byakuya informed the shameful vice-captain of his weakness, "It would be futile to continue this little bout of ours."

Yuusuke had a shit-eating grin on his face, "Oh! So you're throwing in the towel eh?"

"I concede your power-level is by far greater than my own limited one," Byakuya said stoically, feeling a strange sense of relief once Yuusuke allowed him to take his sword from him.

"Limited power?" Ichigo said in confusion.

"Jeez how modest of you!" Yuusuke said perkily, chucking Renji down on the ground and making the injured vice-captain wince from the pain of getting thrown to the ground, "Geez. I've known teletubbies less feeble and more sturdy than you."

Renji staggered to his feet, mustering up his best glare at Yuusuke which the man countered with a cheeky grin. Renji was wobbling up and down, his eyes explicably felt heavy, his vision was blurry, and his breathing was ragged, 'I'll get you for this human!' Renji turned his heated glare at Rukia, making her flinch while Byakuya spun and stabbed his sword into the air as if he was trying to unlock a door, 'Just you wait… _Rukia. _This isn't over. I'll never forgive you for siding with _them.'_ Renji nearly collapsed onto his knee, 'I… can barely stand.' Renji looked up, scowling at Yuusuke's taunting smirk, 'What'd he do to me?'

"Renji," Rukia murmured.

"What's going on?" Ichigo wondered. He stared in awe as a Japanese-esque sliding door appeared out of thin air in front of Byakuya after the man had turned his sword sideways like a key, a luminous white light behind the door.

"Come. Renji." Byakuya commanded, his back facing everyone. He didn't even turn around when Renji dropped onto his backside without spinning around, breathing heavily, he merely reached his hand out backward and grabbed the scruff of Renji's Kimono, "We must report this to the head captain."

Renji tore his eyes away from Rukia, "This…" Renji coughed violently, blood spewing from his mouth to Yuusuke's amusement, "-isn't over," He said stubbornly, looking at Ichigo, because he wanted the last laugh, "Just… know this _human_," Renji was struggling to speak, "You… lost to me… Renji Abarai… and I only had 20% percent of my power available to me!" That got a ruse out of Ichigo, which in return put a weak smirk on Renji's face.

"Tell gramps he better get the kettle on 'cause I'm coming and I want a cup of tea, three sugars!" Yuusuke shouted, confusing Rukia, Ichigo, Renji, and Byakuya. The latter shrugged it off and stoically strode into the realm of heaven, dragging a barely conscious Renji with him. The Senkaimon vanished along with the captain and vice-captain of the sixth squad.

"And they're outta here," Yuusuke sighed contently.

"Uncle Wolf," Yuusuke looked at Ichigo, "Have you ever been to the Soul Society before?"

"Yep. It's not too shabby if I do say so myself, hehe." Yuusuke chuckled.

"Uh huh," Ichigo let out as Rukia demurely walked down the slope and over to Yuusuke.

"Hey, little missy, what's shaking?" Yuusuke asked perkily, his hands on his hips while Rukia pushed her index fingers together.

"I… j-just wanted to say," Rukia quickly bowed her head, receiving bizarre looks from Yuusuke and Ichigo, "Thank you… for protecting me that is."

Yuusuke waved it off humbly, "Think 'nuthin of it Rukia. In fact you ought to thank Sport here." Rukia raised her head up to give Yuusuke a curious look while he pointed to Ichigo, who blinked, "If I didn't know he was waltzing down here to try his luck at sending the pigs away, I probably wouldn't even have bothered to do so my damn self to ya the truth, hehe," Yuusuke chuckled. On the contrary Yuusuke would have protected Rukia either way, he just didn't want to take the credit for it.

Rukia looked at Ichigo and Ichigo stared back at her.

For just a moment time seemed to stop as if a couple of lovers were having a touching moment.

"Ichigo."

"Rukia?"

A fist nailed Ichigo on top of his head, little feet touching the ground afterwards.

Reality had kicked in.

"Hey, what the heck was that for you crazy hag?!"

"Isn't it obvious dummy?"

"Oh, so that's how it is? I risk my neck out for you and this is how you repay me, with a knuckle sandwich to my head!"

"If you can call being reckless, 'risking your neck out for me,' then yeah, you were a _great help, _dummy!"

"Argh! How else should I have gone into that fight?!"

"Hmm, jeez, let's think, maybe with your head for once dummy!"

"Ungrateful hag!"

"Idiot skyscraper!"

"Nagy midget!"

"Reckless fool!"

"They get along like two peas in a bucket," Yuusuke commented idly, leaving the two to squabble while he sauntered up the slope to check on Uryu, "Hey, Quincy-kid. You ain't kicked the bucket yet have ya?" Yuusuke asked, bending down and rolling Uryu over onto his back.

A soft groan came from Uryu, "The name's Uryu Ishida for your information. And yes, I'm still alive and kicking."

"Good." Yuusuke smiled.

Uryu sat up, "You'd be Ichigo's uncle, Yuusuke, correct?"

"Yuusuke Urameshi's at your service."

"I thank you for your intrusion earlier. I must've miscalculated the enemy's strength, resulting in my downfall. It was a minor slip-up," Uryu said, pushing up his glasses.

'So he says,' Yuusuke thought, trying to stifle his snickers, "Hey, don't beat yourself up over it. You fought valiantly like a true man in Rukia's time of need."

"Does it look like a feel sore about that?" Uryu asked. He still had his pride and as long as he had that he wouldn't let anyone pity him.

Uryu struggled to his feet.

"Hey, take it easy, dude. You got roughed up pretty bad ya' know," Yuusuke advised, standing up and trying to support Uryu, but the Quincy gently pushed his arm away.

"I'm fine," Uryu said gruffly, looking at the arguing Rukia and Ichigo, "Please make sure they're safe. It would be foolish to believe those shinigami-scums will take their defeat lying down. They're going to come back for Rukia. And Ichigo's going to want to protect her. I'm inclined to believe he can. The amount of reiatsu Ichigo has is truly remarkable. I wonder, can Ichigo ever truly master his reiatsu completely, though." Ichigo would be in a league of his own. Just thinking about it gave Uryu the shivers.

"Don't worry, come game time Sport'll be ready for anything," Yuusuke assured and Uryu nodded.

"Preparation is everything. I too must be ready for anything, I won't let Ichigo get ahead of me. Nor I will take this slip-up in stride. It's time I underwent some intensive training of my own!" Uryu said resolutely, limping off.

"Smell ya later Kuwabara."

Uryu stopped, turning his head over his shoulder, "Pardon me, but I believe my ears heard you referring to me as someone else. Am I correct in my assumption?"

"Nope!"

Uryu resumed limping on his painful stroll home.

"…Kuwabara."

Uryu ceased his limp again from the sound of Yuusuke's cough.

But when Uryu looked at Yuusuke he saw Yuusuke looking up at sky, whistling in all his innocence.

'That Urameshi truly is an odd one.'


	4. The Sheriff Lays Down the Law

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Bleach**

* * *

**Chapter Four**

**The Sheriff Lays Down the Law **

Ichigo snored quietly, then groaned silently, shifting his body from side to side. As he conveyed his body from one side of the comfortable mattress he was lying on his mind idly wondered in his half-sleep-state why he hadn't fallen out of his bed yet. His bed wasn't a small Japanese-esque futon which was easily travelable because it was so small, it was a proper bed, kept a few inches from the ground by its four wooden legs. If Ichigo rolled to his left he would easily fall out of his bed.

And here was the problem. He had rolled over to his left multiple of times and hadn't dropped out of his bed. Even weirder was he had yet to hear the obnoxious shout of his old man before he came flying through his window to give his son his wake up call. Maybe it was just too early for Ichigo's pops?

Throwing his hand out to the side Ichigo was fascinated to find his hand hitting tiled flooring, letting him know he was indeed sleeping on a small futon. Next he opened his eyes, his vision blurry due to still being half-sleep. But he rolled his head to the side to see a window, yet he couldn't even see any buildings.

'I must be at Uncle Wolf's,' Ichigo rationalized.

"Ah. So you're awake now, eh?" Ichigo turned his head to the other side to see Yuusuke sitting in reverse-esque on a desk-chair, his arms resting on the back of the chair, "Did you have a nice dream Champ?"

A plastic bag was next to Yuusuke's chair.

Ichigo rose his back up, his hand massaging the side of his head, "Yeah, I guess so. It feels refreshing to not have to be awakened by a flying kick from my dad," Ichigo shivered, a recording of Isshin's loud squeaking voice echoing through his head as if his head was a tape recorder.

"_GOOOOOOOD MORNNNNINGGGGGG, ICHIGGGGGGGGO!"_

"…Yeah. What a wonderful way to spend some quality time with my pops," Ichigo muttered sarcastically, Yuusuke chuckling at him.

"Glad to see you up, kid. I hope for your sake your machine is fired up and ready to go today," Yuusuke said, his left eye glinted mischievously.

Ichigo blinked his eyes, "Why? What's so special about today, Uncle Wolf?"

Yuusuke grinned, his sharp fangs gleaming in the sunlight, "Because today's the day you make your metamorphosis from a baby faced twerp who geezers don't give a rat's ass about to a respectable warrior whom name strikes fear and caution even in the most ruthless of veteran warriors! Military school waits, Junior!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold the phone Uncle Wolf!" Ichigo panicked incoherently, waving his hands around frantically, "You don't mean you're gonna send me off to military school right now, do ya?"

Yuusuke grinned widely, standing up with one leg propped on his chair, a dramatic air around him, "Welcome to Urameshi's special boot camp, Sport! Nerds crawl in on all fours with the heart of a kitty cat and emerge with the heart of proud, brave lion! That's a hundred percent guarantee!"

Absolute silence occurred after Yuusuke's dramatic declaration, even the subtle sound of the wind blowing from outside could be heard.

'Huh? Seriously?' Ichigo mused, a deadpan look written on his features, mulling over Yuusuke's words and becoming miffed at the part where Yuusuke said nerds go in a gentle boy and come out a belligerent man more or less, "Hey!"

A smirk of cheekiness graced Yuusuke's features, "So, whaddya say, you ready to get whipped up into shape?"

A shrug of Ichigo's shoulders was Yuusuke's answer, "Uh huh? Well I suppose I've got nothing else to lose," Ichigo somewhat agreed, scratching his head, then looking at his uncle with a raised eyebrow, "Why do I need to train for anyway?"

"Really? Do ya forget already?" Yuusuke asked, folding his arms over his chest.

"About what?" Ichigo asked.

Yuusuke grinned softly, "About Rukia, of course."

That caused panic to mark Ichigo's face like a hamburger getting covered with ketchup, his head rapidly shifted from left to right, much to Yuuusuke's amusement, "Rukia! Where is she?"

Yuusuke jerked his thumb in the direction of his room, "Take a chill pill, fire-top. Rukia's secure and all snuggled up in my wardrobe. She oddly insisted on dozing up in there. Heh. She must've developed a fetish for it kipping in yours all this time she's been there eh."

Ichigo breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good," Ichigo smiled lightly, then rolled his eyes, "Figures she'd get used to sleeping in my closet though."

"Yeah, for real," Yuusuke muttered.

A curious look then marked Ichigo's face. His left hand felt the top part of his back and his right hand felt the bottom part of his back. He looked over his shoulder, spotting only a simple yellow t shirt with red sleeves, "Hey, where's my Zanpakuto?"

"In your soul."

"Oh. You brought my body over here." Ichigo rationalized.

"Yep," Yuusuke replied, "I figured we could get started on your training on the crack of dawn, so I headed to your pops' place and picked up your body, as quiet as a mouse, my stealth skills supersede all," Yuusuke lied, "Some blond haired, orange suited ninja ain't got shit on me."

"You sure that was the right thing to do?" Ichigo wondered. Yuusuke traced a hint of worry in his nephew's voice.

"Yeah, no probs," Yuusuke assured the boy, a grin of confidence plastered on his face.

"Good to know," Ichigo grinned, "I can get started trying to hear the name of my Zanpakuto after school, right?"

"At least you remember that much," Yuusuke muttered. Yuusuke and Rukia had broken down in great detail what a Zanpakuto was to Ichigo last night using Rukia's horrendous drawings which Ichigo commented harshly on, receiving a smack to his head from Rukia. Her drawings were great as far as she was concerned.

That aside: Ichigo had learned if he wanted to harness his power to the fullest extent he would need to unlock the two stages of his Zanpakuto, the first one Rukia had knowledge of, but the second one she didn't but Yuusuke did to her surprise. The man refused to spoil anything until Ichigo had at least managed to unlock the first stage of the Zanpakuto, which was known as the (initial release) Shikai.

The Shikais varied between many shinigami-warriors because a Zanpakuto was something unique to a shinigami, forged from the very soul of a shinigami… well at least the spirit part of the Zanpakuto did. The bottom-line was, no Shikai will ever be the same as someone else's, however the Shikai-state will increase a shinigami's power level exponentially, five times to be precise. That went for every shinigami, including Ichigo.

Yuusuke shook his head of that explanation, "We can get cracking on your training right now if you want to, Sport," Yuusuke suggested.

"What about school?" Ichigo asked.

"What about school?" Yuusuke repeated, a grin of mischievousness forming across his features, "Eh! Are you speaking my language?"

Ichigo just deadpanned a look at his uncle, "I can't skip school Uncle Wolf."

Yuusuke kissed his teeth rudely, turning his head away from Ichigo, "You're no fun. I tell ya back in my day playing hooky was my favourite pastime 'cause I didn't give a rat's ass about school or the friggin teachers who worked there. I preferred to hang out at the casino gambling away what little money I had. And when I was in school I'd skip class and smoke up on the rooftop," Yuusuke pouted in annoyance.

"Well I'm not like you. I have high grades because I study, clean teeth because I don't smoke or drink, a decent amount of money saved up because I don't gamble the money I make as a paperboy away, and I have a high attendance record because I _don't _skip school," Ichigo explained dryly. Ichigo loved his uncle dearly, but quite frankly he was a little disgusted at what Yuusuke used to be like back in his day.

"I would like to keep that record clean," Ichigo said stubbornly.

Yuusuke smiled lightly at Ichigo, picking up the plastic bag next to his chair, "Oh I was just messin' with ya," Yuusuke threw the plastic bag at Ichigo, to which his nephew caught with his two hands while his two eyes blinked in confusion, "Catch."

"What's this?" Ichigo wondered, opening up the bag and lifting out what appeared to be his school trousers, "My uniform?"

"Yeah, I picked it up for ya yesterday," Yuusuke then let out a jesting chuckle, "C'mon now; you didn't really think I would let you go AWOL from school, did ya? C'mon. Your momma would turn into the nag queen just to see to it that I kicked the bucket if I did." Yuusuke's laughter turned outright goofily, as he banged his hand off of his leg as if it would calm him down.

"Hmm," Ichigo let out in an unamused fashion as he stood up to his feet gripping the plastic bag holding his uniform in his hand, "Mom can be like that," Ichigo shrugged his shoulders, "I guess she just wants me to get a good education."

"Of course," Yuusuke agreed with a nod of his head.

Ichigo took a couple of steps to the door so he could have a shower and get changed into his uniform, but immediately stopped to speak with uncle one last time, "Make no mistake, Uncle Wolf, I do want this training. I have to protect Rukia no matter the cost!"

"How far are you willing to go for Rukia? Are you willing to put your very life on the line for her?" Yuusuke asked, a small grin forming across his face as he shut his eyes.

Ichigo clenched his left hand into a fist, "Any length. I'd gladly give up my life if it means keeping Rukia safe from harm, without a shadow of a doubt I would do that for her. She put herself in hot water just to see to it that me, my mom, and my sisters were secure from a hollow," Ichigo clenched his fist tighter, his face scrunching up, "How would I be able to call myself a real man if I were to turn my back on her now, eh?"

XxX

Rukia stood behind the double doors leading to Yuusuke's bedroom already dressed in her school uniform. Her eyes peeking through the little crack she subtly made by gently opening up the door, her hands leaning on the door frame and her ear greedily taking all the conversation shared between uncle and nephew.

"Ichigo…" Rukia said softly, happiness filling her heart hearing how passion and adamant Ichigo was about keeping her safe from her superiors, "You fool. You could've made things so much easier for yourself if you just ran and left me to face my penance," Rukia shook her head in amusement, "Don't expect me to thank you, you big dummy."

XxX

"Heh. Look at you giving the big speech now like a pro," An amusing smirk crossed Yuusuke's features, his eyes opening up, "You're growing up before my eyes, Sport. Keep aiming for the stars, you hear?"

Ichigo turned around to flash his uncle's back a smile of appreciation, "Yeah! Just you wait Uncle Wolf! I'll be able to give you a good fight once I make it through this training you're giving me!"

Yuusuke turned around to sit properly on his chair, lifting up his right leg to sit on top of his left leg in a big cheese-esque, "Heh. Don't get ahead of yourself, kid. You've still got a _long _way to go before you can even think of stepping to my level. You gotta learn to crawl before you can walk Junior."

Ichigo frowned at the way his uncle still thought of him as a kid. He then quickly shook off his frown to replace it with a mask of resolution, his fist clenching even tighter than before, "Yeah. I'll bust my ass off if it means I can show you I'm ready to spread my wings and fly," Ichigo quipped, venturing to the door, opening it up, and walking through it, leaving it to close by itself.

"For your sake I hope you can," Yuusuke murmured, more to himself than to Ichigo while a dull, thumping sound rang through the air, "He's gone now, so you can come out now little miss eavesdropper."

Half of his double door opened up, and in walked Rukia, "It's kind of hard not to hear what you were discussing with your nephew when you were both talking so loud, Yuusuke-san," Rukia replied nonchalantly, a deadpan look written on her cute face as she made her way over to Yuusuke's sofa. The girl sat down and elegantly crossed her right leg over her left leg in feminine-esque.

"Aw, admit it Rukia. Your heart was enjoying the sauna of a lifetime hearing Sport's speech about keeping you safe, wasn't it?" Yuusuke teased.

Rukia flinched, "No, of course not! What would make you say that?" Rukia laughed a tad nervously, taking out a napkin from her front pocket and smoothing her left cheek with it, "Emotions are unbecoming of a shinigami."

"Whatever you say, Rukia," Yuusuke said coolly.

"Do you think Ichigo will be ready in time before any reinforcements are sent out to apprehend me?" Rukia asked, trying to change the subject of her heart being warmed by Ichigo's words of reassurance.

However, Yuusuke wasn't so willing to switch the topic of discussion, "Ah. Someone's worried about their little wannabe protector, eh?"

"That isn't the case. I was merely implying if you were going to throw that dummy out into the lion's den being ready or not. I wasn't worried about him, hmph!" Rukia pouted, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Sure. That's a believable myth as pigs flying honey," Yuusuke mocked her, a troll face masking his normal expression, making Rukia glare at him.

"I would like an answer to my question… Yuusuke-san!" Rukia growled out in suppressed rage but Yuusuke only blinked at her in mocked innocence.

"Hm? What question would that be dear?"

"Ugh!"

"Alright, alright, cool your jets, it's all in good fun," Yuusuke promised with a smile on his features, Rukia pouting at the trolling man all the while, "But yeah, if I'm being perfectly honest with you then Sport doesn't stand a chance in hell of going toe to toe with any of shinigami hanging up with the cream of the crop."

A look of worry came to Rukia's face, "The fool! He's going to get himself kill-."

"Now, now, little missy, don't be so quick to call it," Yuusuke chided her jokingly, causing her to blink her eyes, "Heh. Don't forget you're under the protection of the great Urameshi-sama. 'Em samurai-dudes won't be so quick to come and bust your cute little ass while you're under my wing. Trust me. So rest your warily head. The baddies ain't coming yet," Yuusuke remarked, making Rukia flinch and blush out of anger at Yuusuke's description of her rear-end.

"Do you have to be such a pervert Yuusuke-san?" Rukia asked, receiving a toothy fanged grin from Yuusuke. She shook her head of that, "Are the Soul Society really that cautious of you?"

Yuusuke tapped his chin a few times, "Hmm? Hard to call really, but since the only one who can duke out with me at 20% of my power released and not fall down like a stack of blocks is gramps, the head captain of the Gotei 13, I say it's pretty damn likely they'll double check their life instance before coming after me," Yuusuke explained casually, causing a look of shock to mark Rukia's adorable features before it turned incredulous at the pout of annoyance coming to Yuusuke's face.

"I know the old fart was pulling his punches in our brawl," Yuusuke complained, "Hold back on me will he? I'll show that old bastard who he's messing with! I'll shove my foot so far up his ass he won't be able to shit for ten centuries!"

By the start of Yuusuke's rant Rukia had already zoned him out in flavour of mulling over his aforementioned comment, 'He's that _strong _with only 20% of his power shown! No wonder nii-sama retreated when he witnessed his speed,' Rukia looked at Yuusuke, 'Yuusuke-san… just what are you?'

Yuusuke and Yamamoto were clearly not normal in any sense of the word. Their power-levels were easily over A-class, and maybe even higher if that was even possible. Rukia had never heard of a class higher than A-class in all of her time in the shinigami-academy, only learning A being the class of which most captains received and even a few lieutenants depending on their potential to be classed in such a prestigious class.

E-class was the lowest and was the most common class for unseated officers who hadn't achieved their Shikais like Rukia for instance.

Yuusuke noticed Rukia's deer-in-the-highlights look aimed at him, "Hey, is something th-?" Yuusuke never got the chance to ask; a sudden vibration tingled his right leg, "Eh? I got a call coming in." Yuusuke pulled his LG phone out of his pocket, checking the ID and grinning appreciatively at it.

Yuusuke flipped open his phone in an easy-going manner, bringing it to his ear, "Hey, what's happening, Firecracker?"

"_Hey, Yuu-oji, not much to tell you the truth, it's just these guys won't take a hint and quit bugging me and Yuzu_," Karin explained nonchalantly, couple of loud squeaks echoed through the phone while a malevolent smirk crossed Yuusuke's features.

"Really now, eh? Put the ring leader on." Yuusuke commanded.

Yuusuke could hear muffed whispers coming through the phone. He took great pleasure in hearing the nervous sounds of a couple of guys in the background.

"_Huh? You guys said you wanted proof that my uncle is the great 'Urameshi-sama' and here it is. Your bellies couldn't probably have turned yellow just yet, have they?_" Karin asked dryly, causing Yuusuke to snicker while Rukia watched in curiosity.

"_N-no, n-no, no! It's j-just t-that I'm feeling kinda unwell and-." _A heavy sigh of a deep masculine voice echoed through the phone, "_Your phone's on loud speaker isn't it Ka-? I mean Kurosaki-sama!" _If he started being respectable than maybe the great Urameshi-sama would go easy on him and his gang of delinquents.

"_Yep_!" Yuusuke could just picture the ear-splitting grin plastered on his niece's cute face.

"_Damn!" _The older boy whispered gruffly, swallowing a lump in his throat as he addressed Yuusuke, "_H-hmm? I-is t-this U-Urameshi-s-sama?" _

"That's me. Who did you think it was, Bugs Bunny?" Yuusuke quipped.

"_N-no, n-no, n-no lord U-Urameshi-s-sama, I-I-I-I-," _The boy stuttered.

"Speak properly puny moral in the face of your master! You sound like you've got Down's syndrome." Yuusuke voiced with authority, playing the role of a ruthless lord to teach those douchebags never to trouble his precious nieces ever again.

"_WAH! PLEASE FORGIVE US, URAMESHI-SAMA F-FOR T-T-TRYING TO PUT THE MOVES ON KARIN-SAMA AND YUZU-SAMA!" _Yuusuke and Rukia both suppressed winces from another kid's loud obnoxious, terrified squeak.

"Now why would I do that?" Yuusuke trolled.

"_Huh_?" All boys let out in confusion.

"Not since you've so kindly offered to pay my girls' allowance for the month," Translation: give my nieces your money, and I may decide not to kill you guys, "Right?" Yuusuke probed expectantly, using a dark tone to get his point across.

"_How much?" _The ringleader deflated.

"1000 yen, each of you give 'em that much. Now," Yuusuke ordered.

Yuusuke heard shuffled sounds first then jingling sounds before light thuds dropped onto the ground, "_Shit! Pick up the money, otherwise Urameshi-sama will kill us!" _The ring leader panicked, Yuusuke nonchalantly humming as if he had all the time in the world, proceeding to further mess with the frightened boys' minds.

"_U-uh U-urameshi-s-sama, B-Benjirou o-only h-has 8-800 yen on him to give to Yuzu-sama and Karin-sama," _The ring leader stammered.

"Well you better tell _Benny _he best have the money by tomorrow, with interest! Otherwise I'll be coming to his house and I'll be leaving with a body-bag over my shoulder! You catch my drift? I _do not _ask twice for a flavour," Yuusuke groused threateningly.

"_YES!" _Screamed the boys before loud steps boomed through the phone like thunder.

"_I appreciate that Yuu-oji. Those idiots wouldn't leave Yuzu and me alone so I thought it'd best to call you," _Karin said, a dry look on her face, "_For obvious reasons." _

"All in a good day's work," Yuusuke grinned in satisfaction, "Good to see that my name still means something on the streets."

"_No kidding Sherlock," _Karin said sarcastically, "_Listen I'm going to hang up now, Yuzu and me got schoo-. What? You want to speak with Yuu-oji before he hangs up?_" Karin sighed, "_Okay. Yuu-oji, Yuzu wants to talk to you before we head off to school. I'm going to put her on now_."

"Okeydokey, Firecracker, I'm waiting for her," Yuusuke assured, receiving a delighted squeal from his more cheerful niece.

"_Yuusuke-ojisama!" _Yuzu greeted vigorously.

"Howdy, sweetheart, you okay?" Yuusuke asked in a kind manner.

"Hmm!" Yuzu hummed enthusiastically, "_Yes, I am now. Thank you for dealing with those boys, Yuusuke-ojisama_."

"Shucks, anything for my little nieces," Yuusuke grinned and Yuzu hummed.

"_Yeah_," Yuzu then got shy, fidgeting nervously before asking demurely, "_I just wanted to ask you if you could pick me up after school, Yuusuke-ojisama, if that's not too much to ask?"_

"Sure. Like I could ever say no to you, Princess," Yuusuke accepted.

"_You're the best Yuusuke-ojisama_," Yuzu whispered and Yuusuke huffed, "_I've got to go now. I'll see you later. K?"_

"Is there any doubt?" Yuusuke asked coolly, receiving a drone of naught from Yuzu.

"_I love you, Yuusuke_-_ojisama."_

"Back at ya, Princess," Yuusuke replied, hanging up his phone. He looked at Rukia to see the girl's amusing smirk.

"Well that was certainly interesting. Seems like Uncle Yuusuke's a little too protective of his nieces," Rukia smirked.

"Damn straight I am," Yuusuke agreed, pumping fist in the air, standing up and walking over to his kitchen counter, "Firecracker and Princess know if any boy is mentally retarded enough to trouble 'em then they can always get in touch with me. They've even got me on speed dial."

Yuusuke picked up his kettle and refilled it with water, settling it back to hence where it came from before switching it on, "Tea?"

"Please." Rukia accepted nonchalantly, "I think I'm becoming rather accustomed to the things you humans drink and eat on a daily basis to gain nutrition."

"Glad to hear it," Yuusuke smirked the girl's way, then made his way over to his fridge to pull out a carton of milk, "I wouldn't want you feeling homesick now."

"I concede this is an unexpected turn of events for me but I'm confident in my capabilities to weather the storm, at least until my power regenerate. I was a member of the Gotei 13," Rukia smirked proudly.

"That's the spirit, positive thoughts all the way," Yuusuke said, receiving a nod from Rukia while he brought out two cups from his cupboard. Then Yuusuke grabbed a couple of identical black jugs, one with the word tea engraved in white letters, and the other one had the word, sugar, with the same bolded style wording it on the jar.

Yuusuke opened up the tea jar, taking out two tea bags and putting one of each into the cups while the kettle began to boil, stream flowing into the air while a little orange light appeared on the bottom part of the kettle. Yuusuke then opened up the sugar jar, then pulled open his drawer to bring out a small silver tea spoon.

"Two or three?" Yuusuke asked Rukia.

"Two if you don't mind." Rukia answered calmly, Yuusuke nodding along as he scooped two sugars from the sugar-filled jar and buried them in the cup.

"Two it is," Yuusuke said, scooping up four more ounces of sugar and dropping them into the other cup, grinning savagely, the seething of the kettle reached its maximum point before the little orange light on the bottom part of the kettle switched off by itself, "Right on cue."

Yuusuke lifted up the kettle and poured some of the boiling hot water into each of the cups, the tea bags making the water turn into dark-brownish liquids before Yuusuke propped the tea spoon into Rukia's cup, "Stirred not shaken," Yuusuke quipped, merging the two ounces of sugar he put into the cup with the tea-induced water by stirring it. He then did the same with his one before pouring a touch of milk into both of the cups; the liquids within both cups were now a light brown tea biscuit colour.

"Alright," Yuusuke said to himself, chucking the tea spoon into the sink after using it to take out the tag bags out of the cups. He then picked up both cups of tea and then ventured over to Rukia and held out her cup of tea to her, "Ta-da."

"Thank you," Rukia said appreciatively, elegantly taking her cup of tea from Yuusuke with her two hands.

"No probs," It was all smooth sailing for Yuusuke. The wolf-esque demon sat down next to Rukia, eyeing his tea before blowing off the stream along with Rukia. The two then brought their drinks to their mouths and each took a sip, relishing in the warm sensation which hit their throats before releasing sighs from their mouths.

"Hmph. Living in the human world might not be so difficult."

"You can say that again."

XxX

(Elsewhere – Location Unknown – Yuusuke)

After Rukia and Ichigo had left for school it wasn't long until the half-demon became bored out of his skull. The seconds which clicked away felt like hours to the bored Urameshi who just couldn't take the boredom. The man needed something to do to pass the time until it was time to pick up his niece and then train his nephew, so he decided he would pay a visit to a few of his old soldiers.

And that thought brought Yuusuke outside of an abandoned warehouse around area 6, the docks, of Karakura Town. The warehouse had a huge orange wall barricaded on all sides, the four sides of the walls were a good few meters away from the warehouse as if someone didn't want anyone going near it.

"Hey! I'm back and I got ounces and ounces of whoop ass! Come get 'em while they're hot!" Yuusuke yelled at the abandoned warehouse. His gaze fell upon the luminous orange light keeping him away from the warehouse, "Yo! Are you douches gonna take this thing down or what?"

XxX

Inside of the warehouse were seven people each equipped with blades. The warehouse itself was very wide and spaced out and had a balcony, the seven swordsmen with two being women stood atop of the balcony. While a few just stood on guard and others just calmly stood waiting for a storm to happen, one was distinguished from the others since he was huge and sat in a lotus position with his two hands held together.

Six old fashioned yellow sofas, two brown round tables with four chairs tucked underneath the tables, and some other bits and pieces like reading _materials_, and cards, were all scattered around the warehouse. A brown door was at the back of the warehouse and a distinctive mat was located in the centre of the warehouse.

"He's back," A blond haired man sighed in slight exasperation. His blond hair framed his oval shaped face, he had brown eyes, he wore a orange dress shirt complete with a red tie, black pants, and black shoes on his feet. His katana was held on his shoulder as he smoothed his face.

"And just went I thought things were becoming rather peaceful, hmm, he goes and disrupts it," The blond haired man, a member of this little group of fugitives continued, "Hey, Hachi. Don't let that barrier down, ya hear? I ain't particularly fond of the idea of not sitting down on my ass for a-." His words stopped there; a wooden sandal now implanted in his face.

"HIYORI! WHY THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR?" The blond haired man shouted angrily at a blond haired girl who had a look of insolence on her freckled face. Her hair was tied up in two pigtails by two red hair scrunchies, a tooth of her teeth was longer and sharper than the others, and hung over her bottom lip from her top lip.

Her attire consisted of a red windbreaker with two white strips running down the sleeves, a kanji for Hiyori was stitched on the top left side of her blood red windbreaker, a white t shirt was underneath the windbreaker, a pair of red tracksuit trousers to match her red windbreaker, and lastly a couple of wooden sandals was on her feet… well, two sandals _were _on her feet since she had the audacity to chuck it at her comrade.

And her Zanpakuto was tied on her back.

"Shut up, Shinji! I'm not gonna let that asshole run up in our hideout like he owns the place! Nor will I cowardly quiver in the corner and hope he goes away!" Hiyori Sarugaki shouted back, causing Hirako Shinji to kiss his teeth at her.

"Tch. You're not gonna beat him Snaggletooth… none of us are strong enough to even give that _machine _ a warm up," Shinji groaned at the sound of Yuusuke's voice echoing through the air, "Geez. Doesn't he ever run out of energy?" He then leaned his head to the side, Hiyori's other sandal breezing past his head, "Ha! Nice try, Snaggletooth! I was ready for it that time!"

Hiyori let out a furious growl, "Oh yeah?" With a single step Hiyori blurred from sight using Shunpo, easily closing the distance between them before she forced Shinji to eat a flying kick courtesy of her right foot in his face, knocking him several feet away, "Well you better think again bub!"

Shinji groaned after crashing into the wall, "You'll get us all killed… damn it."

"Hmph!" Hiyori let out insolently, clamping her hands on her hips.

"Don't bother wasting your breath on her, Shinji." A man with a grey Caesar-esque haircut said calmly, resting down against the railing with his knees held up to his chest and his bladed katana kept up by his right arm while remaining sheathed in its black scabbard. He wore a brown sleeveless vest top, grey pants, brown fingerless gloves, and sandals on his feet.

Shinji jumped up to his feet, "You thinkin' what I'm thinkin' huh partner? How great it would be to see 'the mighty Yuusuke-sama' taking Snaggletooth's ass to the cleaners, hmm?" Shinji deadpanned, earning himself another fierce kick to his face and sent him flying into the wall, "WOULD YOU STOP DOING THAT?"

"Whatever. I'll show you I'm twice as good as that scrawny Urameshi any-day," Hiyori turned to the big guy holding his hands together like he was performing a pray, "Release the barrier now, Hachi!"

"NO!" The other members of the crew barring Kensei shouted at Hachi not to release the barrier.

"Cowards," Hiyori spat. "Man up the lot of ya and grow some balls!"

"With all due respect Hiyori we tried to 'man up' three years ago and we still ended up being on the receiving end of an ass-kicking," A dark skinned guy spoke up, an easy-going expression on his face as he brown hair was styled up in star-esque. He wore dark sunglasses over his eyes, sported a green jogging suit and sandals on his feet. His katana-styled Zanpakuto was held in his hand.

He was known as Love Aikawa.

"Yeah and the years before that, Love." Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi, alias Rose, interjected with a bored look on his face. His Zanpakuto was sheathed at his side as he sported a black blazer jacket over a white frilled shirt with frilled cuffs and a high collar, black trousers, and black shoes. His long, wavy, blond hair fell to his back and his dark eyes were set in lazy mode.

Rose was just idly tuning his guitar while Yuusuke's voice progressively became louder.

"So! Are we just gonna give up and let that jackass outside taunt us like this?" Hiyori's attempt to rally the troops fell on bored, disinterested ears.

"Yes," Came the simultaneous answer of all the others save for Hachi.

"Ugh. Fuck you gu-."

"Hey! Do I have to force myself in or what? 'Cause If I do, I'm coming in there and slapping y'all upside your heads!" Yuusuke shouted threateningly, cutting off Hiyori and frustrating the already annoyed girl.

"AH! Is that Yuusuke-chan?" A voice squealed from somewhere around back of the warehouse, making the others of the gang of runaways roll their eyes.

XxX

"Now that's odd. I figured little miss vampire would come out screaming out after hearing that," Yuusuke muttered, scratching the side of his head, "Alright then, I guess I'll have to let myself in." Yuusuke held up his index finger, charging his reiki through it and causing it to glow a shiny blue colour. Then he merely tapped the barrier, watching it shatter into a million little pieces like glass before disappearing like it had never even been there in the first place.

"Meh. Who needs a doorman when you have the key to the city," Yuusuke quipped, blowing his finger off and then tucking his hands into his pockets to venture into the warehouse filled with A-class warriors.

"Yuusuke-chan!"

Yuusuke's saunter to the warehouse ceased right there; his eyes blinking at the distinctive squeal of a woman, a green and white dashing blur flying toward him, pushing him back and putting his neck under a bear-hug.

"Whoa!"

"Hurrah! It really is you, Yuusuke-chan! I'm so happy you're back!" A green haired lady chirped, her longish green fell to her shoulders, her light skin was creamy, and her eyes were filled with childlike innocence and wonder. She sported a pink scarf around her neck, a bladed Zanpakuto sheathed on her back, a pair of goggles propped just above her forehead, a white jumpsuit, orange gloves, and orange boots on her feet.

"Hey, long time no see Mashiro-chan. I'm thrilled to see you too," Yuusuke said, a somewhat tentative grin on his face, probably due to the childish girl bum-rushing him the first chance she got. Despite this, Yuusuke comfortably rubbed her back with his left hand while using the other one to help himself to a little treat.

"Hehe. That tickles, Yuusuke-chan~!" Mashiro sang, giggling at the feel of Yuusuke massaging her butt.

"I know," Yuusuke smirked, causing Mashiro to take in a breath of air in an awed manner before pecking Yuusuke on his cheek, "C'mon, let's head on inside." Yuusuke's smirk turned outright beastly, "It's been forever since I last paid a visit to my loyal minions of vizards."

"AH! King Yuusuke-chan has returned~!" Mashiro said cheerfully, greedily latching onto Yuusuke's arm.

"You know it. Heh. It's time to run damage control up on this joint."

It was time to let the solders know whose was _king _up in these parts.

XxX

(Inside of the Vizards' Hideout)

"Hey, everyone, what's shaking?" Yuusuke greeted upon entering the building with Mashiro still holding onto his arm, most of the vizard-members regarded him with indifference, "What? No warm welcome for your king?"

His hand immediately shot up once those words left his mouth; a wooden sandal now in his hand.

"Heh. I see some things never change eh little Miss Vampire. You still need to cool down," Yuusuke mentioned casually, making Hiyori scowl furiously at him.

"SHUT UP, ASSHOLE! LIKE HELL I WOULD BOW DOWN TO YOU! FUCK OFF!" Hiyori yelled insolently.

"Heh. You don't have to, but fact of the matter is I'm king of this castle," Yuusuke remarked.

"Hurrah! Yuusuke-chan's the man with the plan!" Mashiro chirped brightly, a smirk forming across Yuusuke's features, while a dark gleam covered Hiyori's eyes, her whole visibly shaking at the cheek of Yuusuke to say he owned them all.

"Like hell you are!" Hiyori screamed, blurring from sight via Shunpo, Yuusuke's smirk widening as he never lost track of Hiyori and traced her all the way until she ended up reappearing behind him. Her bladed katana came out of its scabbard and drove _through _Yuusuke and cracked the ground, causing dust to fly into the air.

"HA! How did you like getting beheaded your _majesty?!" _Hiyori taunted. Her answer came in the form of a flying solid, boulder-esque, object nailing her in the back of the head, forcing her to let out a grunt of pain as the momentum of the blow sent her on a one-way trip to the entrance of the warehouse. But before she could collide with the entrance-door, though, she ended up hitting the ground, sprawling across it and damaging it at the same time.

"HIYORI!" Shinji shouted with concern colouring his voice. He looked at the original point where Hiyori had seemingly struck Yuusuke only to find cracked ground, spider-web-esque, but no Yuusuke or Mashiro either. It didn't take the blond haired man long before he pinpointed Yuusuke's and Mashiro's location.

"Meh. Is that the best you got? 'Cause 'em apples just weren't polished enough, Miss Vampire," Yuusuke said wittily, holding an awed Mashiro, bridal-esque, in his arms, his left leg raised from kicking Hiyori's own sandal with so much force into the back of her head it carried her away to the entrance of the warehouse.

"…Yuusuke-chan." Mashiro murmured dreamily, a starry eyed look on her face as she stared up into the deep brown eyes of Yuusuke, then swung both of her arms around his neck.

Hiyori staggered to her feet grumpily, glaring hard at Yuusuke, "Shut your trap, Lover-boy! Your teeth are even longer than mine! How are you not a vampire huh?"

"I'm a wolf," Yuusuke shrugged, "That's why."

Hiyori fumed, "That doesn't even make any sense!"

"Sure it does," Yuusuke chirped. Wolves were the greatest breed of animals, ever! "Wolves are the cream of the crop, and vampires are, well for a lack of a better term, not as _hot _as the roasting tribe of wolves!" Yuusuke basically teleported; Hiyori's Zanpakuto now wedged in the spot he was once standing in holding Mashiro in his arms.

"Stop running and take your beating like a man asshole!" Hiyori shouted, gazing up and spotting Yuusuke standing on the railing of the balcony with a dizzy, but happy Mashiro contently resting in his arms, "Heh. I guess the big bad wolf has turned yellow belly, you chicken shit little bitch!"

"Hmph," Yuusuke let out as he hopped off of the railing and onto the balcony, "I don't understand why you must resort to name-calling for. All it does is sprung forth all of your childishness and ignorance outta the bag," Yuusuke quipped, making a red-faced scowl appear on Hiyori's features, "I guess name-calling is your only attack, because you're too weak to challenge me any other way."

"Ouch. What a comeback," Shinji commented gleefully and the others nodded in agreement with him.

"Shut up! I can take you on any time!" Hiyori assured savagely.

Yuusuke smirked as he bent down and placed Mashiro on her knees to her disappointment. He gave her a somewhat nervous smile before rubbing her knee tenderly, getting a bright smile from her for the soothing gesture.

"Oh no, I know that look," Shinji dreaded.

"Care to put your money where your mouth is?" Yuusuke asked.

Hiyori smirked, "Name the rules!"

"Brawl time! Gauntlet-style! All of you against me! Get your asses up and follow me into the basement! It's about time I went old school on all of your asses!" Yuusuke roared, causing many to go wide eyed and gulp at the thought of fighting Yuusuke, "Except you Mashiro-chan. You're already in line."

Mashiro sighed in relief, suddenly feeling a warm sensation covering her shoulders as Yuusuke's jacket fell upon her shoulders. She snuggled against Yuusuke's leg before hugging his jacket close to her person.

Kensei Muguruma groaned, "I guess it's time to kick your ass again."

"I see you're as optimistic as ever, Kenny," Yuusuke joked, making Kensei roll his eyes.

"Whatever. Let's just get this over with," Kensei was all about business, business, and nothing but business.

"As you wish," Yuusuke said, turning toward Hachi who flinched involuntarily, "Hop to it big man. Someone's gotta put up a barrier, and I couldn't think of no one other than you to get the job done my good man."

"You humble me Urameshi-sama," Hachi said respectfully, his very short pink hair and pink moustache touching the ground as he bowed his head to his lord. As Yuusuke identified him, Hachi was a humongous man who could've easily signed up to be a pro sumo wrestler. He sported a green suit over a white dress shirt complete with an orange bow tie. His katana-esque Zanpakuto was tucked into his pocket.

"Please accept my apologises, Urameshi-sama. The others insisted I try and keep you out," Hachi whispered politely. That didn't sit well with the others that he was trying to win a few points off of the man who forced the Soul Society to reconsider the option of going after the vizards just by Yuusuke being around them.

Yuusuke's presence alone casted an aura of sanctuary around the place and the gang of fugitives could feel safe to live despite being on the run.

Yuusuke was so _powerful _even the Soul Society feared what he could do if he really let loose.

The vizards could count their lucky stars that Yuusuke had never fully released his power before. He only ever joked about 'keeping' them in line and whatnot. It wasn't a given that they had to see him as their king and call him 'sama', but if they did then Yuusuke wasn't going to complain.

"Oh great, first Mashiro and now Hachi won't get the wonderful sensation of being 'trained' by our oh-so fearless _leader,_" Shinji grumbled sarcastically, Kensei standing up and gripping his Zanpakuto in his grip while Yuusuke turned to him with a trolling look on his features, "What are ya looking at me like that for?"

Something about that look just spelled troubles for him.

XxX

(Karakura High School)

HEYYYYYYYY, ICHIGOOOOOO, WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTT'S UPPPPPP?" Came the roar of exuberance of a young fifteen year old boy, who'd brown spiky hair, tanned skin, dark eyes, wore a white dress shirt not tucked into his trousers, a tie, grey trousers, and brown shoes on his feet.

Ichigo found the excited boy hanging off of his shoulder as the boy swung an arm around his neck, "Hey, Keigo. You okay?" Ichigo asked a tad sheepishly, while a bead of sweat rolled off of the side of Rukia's face.

"Yeah man! I'm buzzed up for anything!" Keigo Asano roared energetically, "Man Ichigo you should've been there yesterday, dude!" The kid sounded like he was drinking and eating coke and sugar for every meal as he was that hyper!

"Where?" Ichigo asked curiously.

"It was in the park dude!" Keigo grinned widely, "You would've seen Uryu jumping around like a manic! Then this other guy with black hair came up to him and pointed at the sky like he was pointing at a bird! It was crazy! What a couple of nerds! Huh?!"

'He must be referring to when Uncle Wolf fired his Reigan at that big ass hollow. Good thing Keigo's a hopeless moron,' Ichigo mused while Keigo let go of him and looked at Rukia with hearts in his eyes.

"Ah. My dear Rukia, how are you doing on this fine day?" Keigo asked, circling Rukia like a lost puppy dog.

"I'm doing very well kind sir," Rukia confirmed pleasantly, putting on the innocent school girl voice as she swayed her body from side to side.

"You're so gorgeous Rukia!" Keigo cried, "Please go out with me!"

"No." Rukia shot down playfully, crushing Keigo.

"Wah! WHY? I'm never going to get a girlfriend!" Keigo bawled exaggeratingly, sprinting into the classroom.

"Did you have to do that, Rukia?" Ichigo asked dryly, while Rukia snickered.

"Don't blame me for my convincing acting skills, Ichigo," Rukia smirked, the two resuming their walk to their classroom, "I believe I'm going to score quite high on this school's drama class if my acting skills keep improving at this rate."

Ichigo rolled his eyes, "Fine. We'll see."

"Hey, Kurosaki-san," Greeted a black haired boy, a strand of his hair fell in between his green eyes, and his hair was barely shoulder-length. He wore the white dress shirt of Karakura high school like Ichigo, only difference was he also had on the school's official grey blazer jacket to go along with the grey trousers and black shoes which completed Karakura High School's uniform. And a business bag was dangled from his shoulder.

"Hey, Mizuiro," Ichigo returned with a little grin on his face.

"I take it Asano-san got turned down again eh," Mizuiro Kojima said with a smile on his face.

"Yeah," Ichigo grumbled.

"Well that ought to teach him," Mizuiro joked, laughing a bit, "He should take lessons from the pros like you and I for instance."

"What did I tell ya about this one Rukia? He's a real sly one," Ichigo said dryly, causing Mizuiro to lift his eyebrow.

"Huh? I just like older women is all," Mizuiro replied.

"Sure you do," Ichigo groused, not buying that for a second as he sent Mizuiro a pointed look. Mizuiro shrugged it off and followed Ichigo and Rukia into the classroom.

"There you are Ichigo! You've got some explaining to do, Mister!" Tatsuki demanded once Ichigo entered the classroom with Rukia, her hands balled up into fists.

"O-oh, h-hey T-Tatsuki, w-what w-would t-that be about again?" Ichigo squeaked, backing up.

"Don't give me that crap, you know what! It's abou-." Tatsuki's fiery rant ended there; Rukia softly tapping her on her shoulder was the cause of her rant ending before it finished.

"Might I suggest we discuss this elsewhere Tatsuki," Rukia whispered, gesturing with her eyes to the many other eyes of their fellow classmates all looking at them curiously, and singling Tatsuki out with odds looks.

"Of course," Tatsuki corrected with a blush on her face, "That's what I meant to say," Tatsuki fixed Ichigo and Rukia with a determined glare, 'There's no way you're keeping me in the dark any longer, Ichigo!'

Ichigo dreaded that look on her face as he treaded over to Chad and settled down in his sit to wait for the teacher to come and begin teaching them.

* * *

**Please make sure to always leave a review if you please. Peace.**


	5. The Next Generation Take the Red Road

**Disclaimer: I don't own YuYu Hakusho or Bleach**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

** The Next Generation Take the Red Road **

(Later - Underground Training Basement – Yuusuke and the Vizards)

"**Argh! Quit running away already**!"

Hiyori disappeared in an attempt to get behind Yuusuke but upon coming back into existence she still detected Yuusuke's mocking presence lingering behind her.

"**Damn it**!"

Hiyori fazed out once again, reappearing on the very air itself, her sword raised to come down on Yuusuke, but she stopped herself as she could once again feel Yuusuke's reiki blazing behind her, the man standing upside down with his arms folded over his chest.

"**Fuck you**!"

Hiyori Shunpo'd, travelling to the other side of the shiny barrier Hachi had put up to avoid the gauntlet battle getting out of hand and damaging the whole mountain-side-esque basement made by Kisuke Urahara for the vizards' purpose. In her now deep, gruffly, raspy voice Hiyori let out an irritated sigh, which came off as more as a beastly growl, upon detecting Yuusuke's enormous reiki behind her once again.

Hiyori whipped herself around angrily, her white devilish-like hollow mask turning the pupils of her eyes yellow, and sclera of her eyes pitch black. The teeth on the mask were jagged, it had ten diamond-shaped patterns making the forehead area, and the chin of the mask was pointy.

"**Is using the vanishing act really all you can do? Shame, really, because I expected more from our oh-so great king**!" A mocking malevolent smirk crossed Hiyori's features, "**I guess we should start calling you king of the magicians, huh?! Since playing tricks seems to be your only form of attack!**"

Yuusuke's facial expression didn't show on any signs that he'd even acknowledged Hiyori's witty insult. It was as cool as a cucumber as Yuusuke allowed himself to fall casually to the rocky ground on his left leg, his arms crossed over his chest.

"You talk too much, Copycat-san," Yuusuke groused coolly, an annoyed scowl appearing on Hiyori's concealed features, "Heh. Is that your plan, to talk me to death? How original…"

"**I'll show you original ****after**** I fry your sorry ass, asshole**!" Hiyori growled, holding up her index finger and channelling her reiryoku on the tip of it. A crimson red small sphere shaped nuke formed on the tip of her finger.

"HIYORI DON'T! YOU'LL DESTROY THE TOWN IF YOU LET OFF A CERO OF THAT CALIBRE! YA HEAR?" Shinji shouted warningly, breathing heavily from combating Yuusuke.

"**Shut up, asshole! If hotshot thinks he's all that then he should have no trouble withstanding my cero**!" Hiyori growled, her cero multiplying in size.

"Sheesh. She's gonna get us all killed," Shinji muttered, pulling out some lube from his pocket, "Lube anyone?"

"**Cero**!"

"Hey, look at what we have here, an explosive nuke heading on a one-way ticket to Yuusuke-fried-onion town. It's just what I always wanted. Whoopee doo," Yuusuke remarked, lazily lifting up his right arm, tiny bits of reiki generating in his arm and turning it into a luminous blue one. He shot his glowing right arm outward, the red doomsday blast of Hiyori collided violently with his hand and caused smoke to erupt in front of him.

"**Ha! Take that Mister King**!" Hiyori taunted, not seeing a thing with the dust obscuring Yuusuke from her sight.

The other tired members of the vizards peeked in on the fight curiously, wondering why the entire building hadn't come down due to the magnitude and ferocity of the blast Hiyori shot off.

"Strange." The more observant Hachi murmured, rubbing his chin with his finger.

"What is, Hachi-kun?" Mashiro asked her friend.

"With the amount of power Hiyori-san packed into her cero, I would've assumed this entire building would've come down on our heads," Hachi observed calmly.

"You don't think he could've supposedly caught it do you?" Rose asked.

"…He is a officially monster if he has," Shinji groaned, "How long has it been since this gauntlet started anyway?"

"About three hours now," Kensei clarified gruffly, looking at a golden stop watch in his hand.

"And not one of us has even managed to touch him," Lisa Yadomaru finished, a serious look on her bespectacled face. Her black hair was tied up in a ponytail, a bang hung loose in between her turquoise eyes, and she sported an American-esque high school uniform with black socks and shoes covering her feet.

"AH!" Everyone's attention was draw from an awed gasp from Mashiro, "Yuusuke-chan's arm's like a birdie!"

"What?" The other members said simultaneously, gawking at the sight of Yuusuke's enhanced right arm. His right arm resembled a fiery blue flame and his now giant hand took on the fiery talon of a pheonix's claw, a claw that was effortlessly holding onto Hiyori's cero as if it was a soccer ball.

"Ya have gotta be kidding me." Shinji said.

"It's out of our league," Love murmured.

"Is… that the power of a god?" Rose questioned.

"**I don't believe this? Just what in the hell are you, some kind of bird freak**?" Hiyori shouted, trying to use her anger to mask her fear of seeing her strongest move effortlessly caught like a baseball.

"**Fenikkusu no Tsume (Claw of the Phoenix)**," Yuusuke introduced calmly, a small smirk forming across his features, "I've got to hand it to ya Miss Vampire. I didn't think I would ever get the chance to ever whip out this bad-boy, so props, for actually making me put a little elbow grease into this," Yuusuke quipped as he crushed Hiyori's cero into nothing but little pieces of reishi.

"H-he popped Hiyori's cero, like a bubble," The normally laid-back Love whispered in awe.

"Hurrah! There isn't anything Yuusuke-chan can't overcome!" Mashiro chirped, frustrating Kensei at her childish cheer.

"**What? So you're saying you had to try against me! I call bullshit**!" A smirk crossed Hiyori's features, pointing an accusing finger at Yuusuke, "**I'm calling you out on your bluff, Magician boy! I bet that freaky arm of yours is draining your reiatsu ridiculously fast as we speak asshole**!"

Hiyori flinched instinctively, as Yuusuke was now floating in front of her, "Heh. Don't sleep on the wrong side of the bed kid," Yuusuke quipped, bringing up his normal hand to Hiyori's mask and propping his index finger underneath her mask, ripping her mask off of her face and returning her features to normal, "It's just when you get a new toy you're gonna wanna test it out."

Hiyori was quivering out of fear from getting her mask easily moved by Yuusuke, "What are you?"

Yuusuke grinned, returning his arm to normal, "Y'know that already, I'm just a simple man trying to spread his ramen business across the globe," Yuusuke answered, dropping to the ground and leaving the frightened Hiyori in place.

"Anyone else still up for a round huh?" Yuusuke asked, holding out his arms in a grand manner. The other members of the vizards barring Mashiro each gave him shakes of their heads and hands in the negative.

"You've already bested us five times," Kensei mumbled, holding the stop watch and stopping it before it reached the time limit set for the members of the vizards to survive going one round of five minutes with Yuusuke before Yuusuke knocked them out cold, "None of us even managed to last the five minutes against you."

"Ack. You guys are no fun," Yuusuke pouted, pulling out his phone and checking the time, "On second thought it's no biggie. I got shit to do anyway." Hearing words leave Yuusuke's mouth, Hachi dropped the barrier surrounding Hiyori and Yuusuke.

"Aw, you've got to leave so soon," Mashiro said, disappointment in her voice as Yuusuke treaded over to them.

"Yep, duty calls. I gotta whip my twerp of a nephew into shape," Yuusuke explained casually, taking his jacket off of the shoulders of a sulking Mashiro.

"Ha! I wonder how the newbie will last training under you," Shinji said, a big grin crossing his face.

"Dunno," Yuusuke shrugged, a grin slowly forming across his features, "I'll find out though. Gimme a few months with him and he'll be the one playing Ping-Pong with you guys, not me."

"Hmph. You think your nephew can reach our level in that short space of time?" Kensei asked incredulously, "That sounds like a bunch of bullshit."

"Yeah." Love agreed.

Yuusuke wiggled his finger chidingly, "Heh. Don't be so quick to pass judgement. You never know, it could come back to bite you in the ass," Kensei scoffed at Yuusuke's remark.

"Whatever you say, boss," Shinji said dryly, a deadpan look written on his features, "We'll be here waiting for the day your wonder-nephew can roll with us."

A smirk crossed Yuusuke's features.

"Trust me when I say this, you won't be disappointed."

XxX

(Karakura Middle School)

"Yuusuke-ojisama!" Yuzu greeted happily, running over to Yuusuke who was standing next to the school gates, his hands tucked into his pockets.

"Hey, Princess, what's cracking?" Yuusuke asked, looking around for Yuzu's sister, "Where's your sis? Has she been roped into soccer practice again?"

"Mmm hmm." Yuzu nodded her head affirmatively, "Karin-chan and I ranked near the top on the school exams, though. I only just ranked in second place, one above Karin-chan!"

"That's my girl," Yuusuke praised, ruffling Yuzu's hair.

Yuzu then looked down at her feet, fidgeting in place, "Is it okay if I come to yours, Yuusuke-ojisama?"

Yuusuke grinned apologetically, "Sorry, Princess. Y'know any other day I'd gladly welcome you with open arms, but I'm afraid I've got my hands tied training your bro." A saddened expression marked Yuzu's face hearing that her beloved uncle would be too busy to spend some time with her.

"Oh. Okay, never mind Yuusuke-ojisama," Yuzu whispered in an depressed tone.

"Hey, hey," Yuusuke urgently kneeled down and gently grabbed Yuzu's shoulders, "Don't gimme that look Princess. I'll make it up to you. Okay? So leave the waterworks off," Yuusuke delicately brushed the bangs of Yuzu's hair up, sending a tingling sensation through Yuzu as his strong hand tenderly grazed her forehead.

"You promise?"

"Would I ever lie to you?" Yuusuke's answer was a shake of the head from Yuzu, "Then it's settled. When does semester end?"

"Tomorrow," Yuzu informed him with a smile on her face.

"Then I'll take you to the cinema sometime. Just the two of us, does that sound okay?" Yuusuke asked, giving his niece a hopeful grin.

"Yes!" Yuzu swung her arms around Yuusuke's neck, rubbing her cheek against his, "Thank you Yuusuke-ojisama."

"Aw, anything for you, Princess," Yuusuke smiled, returning the hug and missing the blush which appeared across Yuzu's face, "So shall we ge-." The vibrations which tickled his leg instantly made him rethink his sentence, "Phone call, just a minute." Yuusuke pulled his phone out of his pocket, checked the caller ID, which made a look of realization appear on his face before he flipped open his phone and brought it to his ear.

"Hey, what's going on Sport?" Yuusuke asked, standing up straight with Yuzu looking up at him curiously.

"_Hey, Uncle Wolf, I just finished school now. You gonna train me today_?" Ichigo asked politely.

"Yeah, yeah, but listen, I'm escorting your sis home at the minute. So here's what I'm lying on the table," Yuusuke started, holding up his index finger, "Y'know that old temple, the one around block 33?" Yuusuke questioned.

"_Yeah, what about it_?" Ichigo wondered.

"Meet me there. We'll get a crack on your training there Sport," Yuusuke told the boy.

"_Okay, cool! But listen, would it be too much to ask if a couple of my classmates tag along, and… I dunno, join in on my training session?" _Ichigo asked for his uncle's permission sheepishly, knowing how strange that sounded, "_I guess they're interested in becoming stronger_."

Yuusuke rubbed chin with his index finger, "And who might those be?"

"_Well you sort of met 'em alre-_."

"Ah. Say no more. I know. I just sensed 'em with ya." Yuusuke told his nephew, receiving almost lifeless drones from the boy in return, "Yeah. The more the merrier I always say. I'll admit curiosity was killing me like it kills the cat after witnessing that Tatsuki-chick's skill. All that potential, well it'd be wrong of me to let that be squandered. Hehe."

"_Yeah_," Ichigo replied sheepishly, a glaring Tatsuki trying to burn a hole through him, "_We'll see you in a bit then_."

"Later," Yuusuke said, hanging up his phone and tucking his phone into his pocket.

"Was that onii-chan?" Yuzu asked with big brown curious eyes looking up at her beloved uncle.

"Yeah. He just phoned to say he's finished school and that a few of his classmates are gonna tag along for the ride," A smirk crossed Yuusuke's features, "Heh. That's three potential greenhorns that could possibly come under my wing."

"Don't hurt onii-chan too badly," Yuzu said.

Yuusuke waved his hand dismissively, "Meh. Sport's a tough customer, he can hack it." Yuzu nodded her head, "Alright, I better get you home Princess."

Yuzu reached her hand out to Uncle Yuusuke.

"Hand."

"Of course."

XxX

(Elsewhere – Ichigo – Tatsuki – Sado – Orihime – Rukia)

"How much longer until we make it up these steps, Ichigo?!" Tatsuki complained, dragging her heels to continue marching up the stone steps which would hopefully take them outside of the temple Ichigo's uncle had asked them to meet him at.

"Not much longer," Ichigo assured, 'I hope,' Ichigo dreaded mentally, "You know you could've went home Tatsuki. I don't want your parents getting worried regarding your whereabouts!"

"Nice try, Mr Shinigami, but I'm not letting you do this without me!" Tatsuki had been furious earlier in the day, so much so she forced Rukia and Ichigo to tell her and Orihime about Ichigo's adventures of a shinigami. Her temper reached boiling point when Rukia informed her how she'd basically mind-raped her and Orihime during the night when a hollow attacked Orihime's home only to later be identified as Sora Inoue, Orihime's deceased older brother.

Tatsuki did give Rukia's memory replacer gadget thing some credit though since she used it to replace everyone's memories regarding the day some mod soul Ichigo told her about only today jumped into their classroom from way up. Tatsuki could've sworn it was Ichigo at the time, and was determined to scold her friend and beat the perverseness out of him until he 'kissed' her on her cheek. Then she just wanted to murder him. Yeah. Ichigo didn't want to relive that memory, because it wasn't his!

Damn Kon.

Where the heck was he when a guy needed him?

Ichigo would introduce Tatsuki and Kon later so Tatsuki can let out her righteous fury on the perverted mod soul.

That would teach Kon an important lesson: never run around in Ichigo's body, ruining the image Ichigo had worked so hard to make of himself.

Orihime being the kind and cheerful girl she was thanked Ichigo for saving her and Tatsuki and helping her dear brother find peace up in the Soul Society. Despite that she felt she had to come here because she'd subconsciously been feeling out a person's presence and even heard six tiny voices in her head ever since that lady-like hollow had almost killed her and Tatsuki if it wasn't for Yuusuke's timely intervention.

Chad's theory for Orihime's problem was the one Kisuke gave him regarding the birth of his own dormant power, which he had been struggling to bring out ever since using it subconsciously on the day Yuusuke had saved him and Karin from the hollow that attacked them.

That theory being Orihime unconsciously absorbing Ichigo's leaking reiatsu because she was spiritually aware, even only slightly at the time.

"I said I was sorry already, what else do you want me to say?" Ichigo groused, a look of annoyance on his face.

"Then maybe you should've straight up told me when you first became a shinigami Ichigo!" Tatsuki yelled angrily.

"Yeah, you know, that's not a bad idea. Hmm. How do you think it would've gone? I just waltz on in school one day, and be all like, 'Hey, Tatsuki, guess what? I'm god now, yep, no bullshitting. So, you know, some days I'll have a free pass to skip class and do God-stuff'." Ichigo argued, a dry look on his face, "Does any of that honestly sound plausible to you?"

"You're such a jerk you know that?"

"You wouldn't be that first one to say that honey!"

Tatsuki and Ichigo glared fiercely at each other, sparks of lighting shooting from their eyes before they turned away from each other and crossed their arms over their chests, "Hmph!" Ichigo and Tatsuki let out simultaneously, each marching forward ahead of the others.

Orihime was busy looking around the forest in childlike-wonder, "You okay, Inoue?" Chad asked stoically.

"Yep!" Orihime chirped, "It feels kinda exciting doesn't it Sado-kun? We're getting trained by a super-duper master like Kurosaki-kun's uncle. It's almost like Urameshi-san has been filled up with a ton of gas, his energy is that big!" Orihime giggled at her own wild fantasy, a bead of sweat rolling off of the back of Chad's head.

"Yeah. Maybe he can help me come to terms with my own power," Chad hummed monotonously, the five travellers nearing the top of the steps.

"I wonder," Rukia started, trying to theorize the kind of training Yuusuke would put Ichigo and his classmates through, "Just what kind of training has Yuusuke-san got in store for Ichigo. Yuusuke-san seemed adamant he could increase Ichigo's current skill level in such a short time-span."

"I'm sure whatever training Urameshi-san has planned for us will be doodles of fun!" Orihime said cheerfully, a pensive expression on her adorable features, "Let's see. He might have us run laps, do star-jumps, squats, pillow fights, and-. Wait. Pillow fights are not for training. Silly me!" Orihime bonked herself on the head softly.

Rukia smiled at Orihime. She found the innocent girl's antics amusing. Rukia was glad Yuusuke had scared away Byakuya and Renji yesterday. In all these months she'd stayed with the humans she'd somewhat grew attached to them… especially Ichigo, even if she didn't want to admit it.

"Well I'm positive about one thing," Rukia said informatively, big curious brown eyes turning to her.

"What's that Kuchiki-chan?" Orihime asked.

"Whatever this training is, it wi-."

"Whoa! What the heck is that thing?"

Ichigo's shocked-induced voice cut off Rukia. Orihime, Rukia, and Chad glanced upward to see that Tatsuki and Ichigo had made it to the top of the stone steps. Looking at each other once the three nodded to each other and sprinted to catch up to Tatsuki and Ichigo.

There they were just as intrigued and surprised as Tatsuki and Ichigo were to see what the duo were staring at.

"What?" Chad murmured, failing to comprehend the bird-like creature lying next to the temple.

"Insane." Tatsuki whispered, a bead of sweat rolling off of the side of her cheek.

"I've never seen anything like that," Rukia said as she was just as jarred as the others to see such a creature in board daylight.

"Ah! Look at that! It looks like a cute birdie!" Orihime chirped.

"Should we… I dunno, fight it?" Ichigo guessed in a dumbed fashion.

That was the million dollar question and one needing some serious consideration.

As Orihime's vision zoned in closer on the content massive blue creature which had two wings, its hairstyle oddly reminded her of the one she'd saw two days ago, "The birdie's hair is exactly like Urameshi-san's," That intrigued the others as they gave Orihime incredulous looks before bravely deciding to venture closer to the beast and eye its hair.

"You know, you're right Orihime. That thing's hair really does look like Ichigo's uncle's hair," Tatsuki mumbled.

"You think Urameshi-san found the cute birdie and made his hair like his own?" Orihime wondered, tilting her head cutely to the side before another thought came to her wild imagination, "Oh! I know! Maybe the birdie and Urameshi-san have a special bond, so whenever Urameshi-san grows up, the bird changes to reflect what Urameshi-san is on the inside!"

"I don't think it has anything to do with that Orihime," Rukia said calmly.

"Hehe," Orihime giggled.

"Whatever it is, do you think it'll let us pass?" Chad murmured questioningly, the others barring Orihime took Chad's words into serious consideration.

"Maybe I should just phone Uncle Wolf," Ichigo said, pulling out his phone and scrolling through his contacts to pick out his uncle's, only stopping by the sound of a sliding door.

"Hey! I'm thrilled to see all you newbies could make it here!" Yuusuke said cheerfully, now sporting a beige karate-esque top, a black obi tied around his waist, beige-esque gi pants, wooden sandals, and a magician-styled hat in his hand filled with small looking white papers.

"Hey," Ichigo mumbled slowly, putting away his phone, "Right on cue I guess."

Yuusuke smiled, walking down the steps and over to the massive blue creature before he contently stroked it. The creature smiled and rubbed its head against Yuusuke's hand.

"Hey, Yuusuke-san, just what is that thing?" Tatsuki asked curiously, pointing to the blue bird-esque Yuusuke was stroking.

"Hey, don't call him that. You'll hurt his feelings," Yuusuke pouted.

"Him?" Ichigo said, blinking his eyes along with Tatsuki, and Rukia.

"Yeah. He's my spirit beast. Translation, he's a representation of myself. So yeah, I've got a heart of a lion. Isn't that right Pu?" Yuusuke asked the phoenix now known as Pu, Pu purring as he licked his master's cheek, "Haha. Cut that out. It tickles! Haha!"

Chad, Rukia, Tatsuki, and Ichigo could only turn to Orihime with bizarre looks plastered on their faces, 'So she was right after all.' They mused simultaneously. Orihime sure had one weird and surprisingly accurate imagination.

"Amazing!" Orihime droned, a starry eyed look on her face as she treaded over to Yuusuke and Pu, "It's like looking into a mirror! I betcha you're as sweet and innocent as a baby, Urameshi-san! Just like Pu-chan is!"

"Haha," Yuusuke laughed nervously, Pu placing his head down to get some rest and droned peacefully while Orihime stroked his cheek in childlike-innocence, 'She wouldn't be wrong,' Yuusuke mused, "Okay, since you're so attentive why don't you get first dips on my hat of treats."

Orihime looked at him curiously, "Treat?"

"Pick a lot kid," Yuusuke suggested, winking at Orihime, "You might like this little game of chance of mine."

"Oh it's a game!" Orihime realized brightly, shoving her hand into Yuusuke's hat and picking out a lot, "I like games!"

"I thought so," Yuusuke smiled, and then turned his head to address Sado, Tatsuki, and Ichigo, "Hey! Don't be shy, you guys! Come help yourself to these bad-boys!"

The aforementioned three had looks of confusion on their faces, looking at each other as if debating whether or not they should go over to Yuusuke and pick out a lot. Then they shrugged and each walked over to Yuusuke to take a lot from his hat while Rukia followed closely behind them.

"How come you want us to do this?" Ichigo asked, picking a lot out of the hat. Orihime was eagerly anticipating what would be inside of it and was only waiting to be given the get-go from Yuusuke so she knew what to hope for and what not to hope for, "It seems kinda dumb to me."

"Something does seem fishy about this," Tatsuki said, eyeing the lot in her grip incredulously, "This doesn't seem like training to me."

"Trust me. It is," Yuusuke promised, getting a doubtful look from Tatsuki in return, "Go ahead and open it. If you get a red paper, 'Ding-Dong we have a winner! But if you by any chance score white you've lucked out!" Now cute-Orihime was more determined than ever to pull out a red paper as she slowly started opening her lot.

"So it's a game of chance huh?" Tatsuki guessed dryly, "One of us or even all of us could strike white and then what? You don't train anyone of us," Tatsuki rolled her eyes, "Real smooth to get out of training your nephew Mr Laz-."

"Hurrah! I won! I won!" Orihime chirped brightly, ending Tatsuki's rant as the shocked eyes of Orihime's classmates landed on her, "I got a red one! You see!" Orihime grinned widely and beautifully, holding up a red card in all her happiness!

"No way," Tatsuki murmured.

"Hey, how did you do that Inoue?" Ichigo asked her.

A cute pensive expression adorned Orihime's features, her finger caressing her chin, "Hmm!" She mused before shrugging in a carefree manner, "I dunno!"

"Huh?" Ichigo wondered, him and Tatsuki looking at Yuusuke to see the man giving them a smile of innocence. Tatsuki and Ichigo exchanged looks before staring down at their own lots, "Well maybe I'll have the same luc-."

"Check," Chad murmured, holding up a red card in his hand, much to Tatsuki's and Ichigo's shock.

"You got a red one too, Chado?" Ichigo questioned dumbly.

"Fluke," Chad mumbled.

Ichigo nodded his head slowly, a lost look on his face, "Hm. I guess it comes down to luck," Ichigo shifted his head to Tatsuki, holding up his lot, "Tatsuki?"

"On three."

"Yeah."

"One."

"Two."

"Three!" They roared the last count simultaneously, ripping open their lots and pulling out their cards. They held up their cards with dry looks on their faces while Orihime smiled brightly, "Wow, lucky me. I got a red one." Tatsuki and Ichigo spoke in sync once again, deadpan expressions still marking their faces until they realized they said the same thing.

Both whipped their heads faster than a speedy bullet hitting its target.

"You got a red one too, Tatsuki!"

"Don't look at me like that! I don't know what I did to get a red one!" Tatsuki defended herself while Orihime tilted her head cutely to the side.

A look of annoyance soon appeared on Tatsuki's features, her head turning to see Yuusuke and the troll face masking his normal expression, "Hey, wait just a minute bub! Just what the hell's going on? There's no way all of us should've got red cards, Yuusuke-san!"

"Interesting," Rukia said, her arms crossed over her chest and a pensive expression on her face.

"What is it Kuchiki-chan?" Orihime asked.

"It would seem that you all were the cause of those papers turning red. Probably due to your reiryoku-levels being much stronger than normal humans," Rukia rationalized calmly.

"Seriously?" Ichigo asked, receiving a nod of confirmation from Rukia, "Then what the heck was the poi-?"

"Hahahahahahaha!" Yuusuke chortled loudly.

"Okay, bub, what was the big idea making us go through with that?" Tatsuki asked angrily, getting into Yuusuke's face with her hands balled up into fists.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, take it easy, it was all in good fun," Yuusuke defended, holding up his hands in a placating manner at the pouting Tatsuki, "Not to mention it let me know that all of you had enough reiki to begin training. Think of it like an employer looking through a shit ton of application forms, separating the clean ones from the messy ones, leaving the unfortunate suckers who messed up their application forms bawling. This process is identical to that. It trims off the fat."

"Oh. So if by chance anyone of us had gotten a blank paper then it would've been pointless for you to teach that one poor soul, right?" Tatsuki surmised.

"Bingo," Yuusuke grinned.

"I kind of wished you would've straight up explained that to us the moment we came up here Yuusuke-san," Tatsuki mumbled, a deadpan look written on her face. Ichigo and Chad both nodded their heads in agreement with Tatsuki.

"Haha!" Yuusuke laughed, "Yeah but that would've sucked out all the fun if I told you that from the get-go," Tatsuki glared at Yuusuke, "Moving on," Yuusuke said as if the topic had never even come up, "All of you have a vast amount of untapped potential. If you let me I'll be your guiding light to shiny glory," Yuusuke observed the contemplating expressions on Tatsuki's, Sado's, and Orihime's faces upon hearing his offer.

Ichigo had already long time made up his mind. So his face was set in resolution-mode.

"Well," Chad started to speak stoically, breaking the ice, "I accept. Me and Ichigo made a vow that we would fight for each other. I just can't let him face anything dangerous without having his back like he's had mine." Chad looked at Ichigo, getting a grin from the orange haired half breed wannabe authentic shinigami.

Ichigo held out his fist to Chad. Chad hummed and raised his hand, balling it into a fist before he fisted Ichigo's knuckles, the two grinding their fists together in a show of brotherly-love while the girls and Yuusuke smiled at them.

"I hear you man. Let's always have each other's backs," Ichigo grinned, Chad humming and nodding his head in agreement with Ichigo.

"Brotherly love is a blessing," Yuusuke remarked.

"Yeah." Ichigo agreed with a light grin on his face.

Yuusuke turned toward the young ladies of the group, in human terms not shinigami since Rukia was still technically young, "And what about you two? You gonna lend a hand to Sport here?" Yuusuke asked, pointing at Ichigo, "He may find himself in hot water, a helping hand could be his best asset."

Unlike Tatsuki who had a deep pensive expression on her features, Orihime didn't need a second to consider the option of growing stronger in order to be of use to her friends, especially Ichigo, even if her shy personality wouldn't allow her to outright say her motives for growing stronger, "Well I'd like for you to show me how to get stronger, Urameshi-san." Orihime whispered shyly, pushing her index fingers together.

"Orihime?" Tatsuki wondered.

"It wasn't nice seeing my nii-san hurting Tatsuki-chan or that mean hollow-lady using our friends to hurt Tatsuki-chan. I don't want to see that ever again. I also don't want to see Kuchiki-chan get taken away," The demure girl stared up at a closely observing Yuusuke trying to strengthen her resolve as best as she could, "I guess what I'm trying to say is I want to become stronger so I can protect my friends, Urameshi-san."

A small smile crossed Rukia's features hearing how adamant Orihime was about shielding her until she regained her powers, "I hope you know what you're getting yourself into, Orihime."

The perky amber-haired girl turned to Rukia with a big bright smile on her features, "Besides, if you go home early, you won't be able to taste my yummy desserts, Kuchiki-chan!" This caused anyone barring Chad and Yuusuke to blench at the thought of Orihime's cooking.

"Okay, I might think about it later," Rukia said, giving Orihime a sheepish smile.

"Aw," Orihime whined cutely, "You always say that Kuchiki-chan, 'I'll think about it'." Orihime did her best impersonation of Rukia's calm voice while holding up her finger, a smile on her face.

"Is that so?" Rukia wondered, still smiling at Orihime which the optimistic girl returned.

"Hehe." Orihime giggled optimistically, turning her wide bright eyes to her would-be master, "Maybe you'd like to try my yummy desserts too, Urameshi-san!" Yuusuke could immediately see Ichigo, Rukia, and Tatsuki shaking their heads and moving their hands across their throats in a slitting manner.

"Sure. My taste-buds are always up to trying something new," Yuusuke assured. He instantly gained disbelieving looks from Ichigo, Tatsuki, and Rukia upon basically waving his magic wand to allow Orihime to feed him all sorts of weird meals.

"Hurrah!" Orihime chirped. Yuusuke smiled at the girl. Her cheerful nature and childlike innocence reminded him of Mashiro.

"So," Yuusuke breathed out in a leisured manner, settling his sights on Tatsuki, "Will you be the odd girl out and walk the blue path leading to your home? Or will you join your loyal friends on marching on the red road to starry glory, discovering how deep the rabbit hole goes? Your choice my dear, will you take the red road or the blue road?"

'Seriously, Uncle Wolf?' Ichigo deadpanned mentally.

Tatsuki took a deep breath to weigh her options, "Well I know I was furious at Ichigo for not telling me he was a shinigami earlier. I wondered why I was so mad at him. I could only think back to the times when I used to beat up any kids who tried to pick on him," Tatsuki laughed humourlessly.

"I guess that's why I was so angry at Ichigo for keeping his shinigami-status from me. I tried to be there for him back when we were younger. And even now I still don't want to quit looking after him!" A look of resolution appeared on Tatsuki's features, "I don't want to see any hollow-freaks or death gods samurai-creeps making my friends cry! So I'm in too!"

Tatsuki's declaration earned her smiles from Ichigo, Orihime, Rukia, and even Chad of all the people.

'Ichigo has some loyal friends,' Rukia mused with a faint smile on her features.

"All for one and one for all I suppose," Yuusuke remarked, a small grin on his face.

A smirk formed across Tatsuki's features, "I also don't want Ichigo to get ahead of me!" She turned her smirk to Ichigo who flinched, "You hear that Ichigo! You used to cry so much after I whooped your ass in karate-class! I'm not letting those days come to an end!"

"Hey! I was just a kid back then! I didn't know any better!" Ichigo whined.

"Hahahahahaha!" Yuusuke laughed at Ichigo's misfortune, "I remember that. You sure handed Sport his ass back then Tatsuki!"

"Hey! Whose side are you on anyway?!" Ichigo yelled belligerently, "I was a kid back then! I didn't know how to defend myself from her attacks or withstand 'em properly, damn it!"

"Excuses, excuses, Ichigo," Tatsuki mumbled, shaking her head with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Regardless of Sport bawling his eyes out like a little bitch until his momma came and kissed his boo-boos away," Yuusuke jeered teasingly, trying to stifle his laughter while Ichigo's left eyebrow twitched, "Let's get this show on the road shall we… haha. Follow the leader," Yuusuke jerked his thumb at himself, "If you dare. You destinies awaits!"

Tatsuki, Rukia, Sado, Ichigo, and Orihime nodded their heads, the four would-be students and Rukia following Yuusuke around the corner after Orihime had waved her hand at Puu. Upon walking around the corner Yuusuke stopped and pointed his index finger at a double door.

"If you all still got the balls to undergo Urameshi's military camp, then walk on inside those doors," Yuusuke jeered jokingly, the looks of resolution not leaving his would-be students' faces as they each walked toward Genkai's old 'training room' with Rukia right by their sides.

"Hang back Sport. I gotta ask you something," Yuusuke said, gripping Ichigo's shoulder while Ichigo's friends wandered into Yuusuke's old master's 'training' room.

"What is it Uncle?"

"Did you see Uryu by any chance today?"

"Nah. He didn't come into school."

"I thought so, I didn't feel his reiki around you or Rukia during school-hours."

A worrying look appeared on Ichigo's face.

"You don't think that jerk Renji roughed him up too badly, do ya?"

"Nah! He was able to jump up and waltz on home last night while you and Rukia were arguing. He did tell me he was going to undergo some intensive training of his own to avoid slipping further away from you in the power-department, though," A amusing smirk appeared on Yuusuke's features, "Looks like you've got yourself a rival Sport. Slip up and he could end up handing you your ass."

"I don't think he'll get that far ahead of me," Ichigo muttered, a challenging smirk forming across his features, "It's not like you won't be pushing me past my limits, right?"

Yuusuke tapped Ichigo on his shoulder, "Correct Mr Smarty Pants. Mr four-eyes best be ready to pull one thousand bows outta his ass the time I get through breaking you and the other kiddies in. Trust me."

"Yeah!" Ichigo was honestly excited at the prospect of gaining a whole new level of power training under Yuusuke.

"C'mon kiddo, let's get inside. Your fellow trainees are waiting." Yuusuke remarked.

Ichigo nodded his head, following Yuusuke into the temple. He was rather underwhelmed at what waited him like Tatsuki was while Orihime was eagerly bouncing on the balls of her feet. And Rukia obviously had a disbelieving look on her face. Was Yuusuke honestly foolish enough to believe these play things were training equipment?

"What the heck's this?" Ichigo asked.

"The battlefield for the second test," Yuusuke grinned.

"Uhm? No. No it isn't Yuusuke-san. This is an arcade," Tatsuki clarified dryly.

Yuusuke wiggled his index finger chidingly, "That's where you lose my dear," Tatsuki raised an eyebrow at Yuusuke as he pointed at a punching machine, "Each one of these games will test you on your capabilities. Like for instance the boxing machine will give ya a reading of how much reiki you're packing."

Yuusuke pinpointed a rock – paper – scissors machine, "That bad boy will tell you how spiritually aware you are," Yuusuke pointed at a karaoke machine which got Orihime's eyes to light up, "And the last one will give you a reading of how much potential your reiki has to adapt and grow stronger."

"That's… something," Tatsuki said slowly.

"They still look like a bunch of dumb games to me." Ichigo grumbled with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Hahahaha! Those were my sentiments exactly when the old hag first sprang 'em on us," Yuusuke said.

"Us?" Chad asked.

"Yeah I sorta won a competition to become grandma's student," Yuusuke reminisced, rubbing his nostrils with his index finger, "Anyway, try 'em out. I've monkeyed with 'em so they won't cost ya a dime. Consider that your Christmas present from me."

"Yay!" Orihime cheered, running over to the karaoke machine, "Come watch me sing Tatsuki-chan!"

"Hey, slow down Orihime!" Tatsuki suggested, following her friend over to the karaoke machine.

Ichigo blinked his eyes at the two before turning to Sado, "You wanna try the punching machine Chado?"

"Sure." Chad murmured and led the way to the punching machine.

"You sure this has anything to do with them growing stronger, Yuusuke-san?" Rukia asked incredulously.

"Oh yeah! It's gonna gimme a rough idea of what each of 'em needs to work on." Yuusuke assured the girl while a belling sound rang through the air, making Yuusuke and Rukia look to see Chad standing next to the punching bag with a boxing glove on his hand, "Hmm. Sounds like they're having at it already," Yuusuke said, wandering over to the punching machine with Rukia by his side.

155.

"Hey, way to go big guy, you scored a whopping 155! The same score I got when I first had a crack at this," Yuusuke praised while the stoic boy merely hummed appreciatively.

"I expect nothing less from Chado. He's too strong! This machine's obviously working fine!" Ichigo roared. Yuusuke nodded his head with his arms crossed over his chest. Ichigo clearly thought Chad was the strongest between him, Tatsuki, and Orihime. That in retrospective wasn't a bad mind-set to have.

It just meant that Ichigo would want to push himself to get stronger at all costs.

Chad took off the boxing glove and Ichigo cracked his knuckles, an amusing grin crossing his features, "It's my turn to have a pop at it now. I don't expect to score as high as Chado, but I'll do my best at it."

Before Ichigo could pick up the glove and put it on however he felt a solid grip on his shoulder, "Wait a sec Junior."

"Huh? Why, Uncle Wolf?"

Yuusuke grinned, "Rukia would you do the honours?"

"Of course," Rukia said calmly, taking out a similar red glove with a flaming skull-design from her pocket which Ichigo knew of all too well, becoming a little miffed as Rukia shoved the glove onto her hand and pushed her now gloved hand into Ichigo's forehead, forcing his soul form from his physical body.

"Hey, a little warning would be nice," Ichigo whined, while Yuusuke picked up his physical body, and held it underneath his arm like a laptop.

"Do your best!" Yuusuke flashed Ichigo the green light to do his thing.

Ichigo nodded his head, picking up the glove and putting it on his right hand. He took a deep breath before letting out a war-cry, smashing the punching target so hard he rocked it back and caused the same belling noise which rang out when Chad hit it to echo through the air.

488.

"Whoa! You're packing some serious fire power, kid!" Yuusuke complimented while Ichigo looked at the machine oddly.

"Huh? I think it's broken. I scored way higher than Chado? That shouldn't have happened," Ichigo stated.

"Don't worry about it. It doesn't matter how powerful you are physically, if your reiki-levels don't make the cut the machine doesn't give a rat's ass about how much elbow grease your punches pack. Not to worry, though, Big-guy, we'll work on getting your energy-levels up to snuff," Yuusuke reassured Chad.

"Hm. Okay, sensei," Chad said and Yuusuke blinked his eyes.

"Sensei, huh?" Yuusuke scratched his cheek dumbly, a small smirk forming across his features, "I'm liking the sound of that."

"Yay! You scored higher than me Tatsuki-chan!" Orihime cheered, waving her arms in the air like she just didn't care.

Tatsuki blinked her eyes at her points, 120, "I wasn't expecting that." She looked over to see the teasing smirk plastered on Yuusuke's features, as if he was just dying to say…

"…You go girl!"

Yes, these wonder-kids had some serious potential.

And Yuusuke was determined to exploit them.

Reiki/Reiatsu – levels

1. Ichigo – 488

2. Chad – 155

3. Tatsuki – 130

4. Orihime - 107

Spiritual awareness

1. Orihime – 107

2. Tatsuki - 95

3. Chad – 92

4. Ichigo - 55

Reiki adaption and potential to grow stronger

Ichigo – 343

Tatsuki – 120

Yasutora – 118

Orihime - 114

XxX

(Later - Elsewhere – Location Unknown)

Watching the new generation taking part in Genkai's wacky, yet somehow productive games filled Yuusuke with a sense of nostalgia. Chad and Ichigo were almost like the complete opposite of the way he and Kuwabara were back in the day when Yuusuke was a greenhorn himself. Chad and Ichigo were much (more) calmer and composed, (more so Chad than Ichigo), in comparison to how hot-headed and arrogant Kuwabara and Yuusuke were when they were around their age.

Chad and Ichigo even actively rooted for each other to score higher than themselves whereas Kuwabara and Yuusuke would've been challenging each other to see who could score the highest on Genkai's games. But Yuusuke guessed Uryu, the Quincy-boy, filled the role of 'Kuwabara' (rival) for Ichigo to complete against.

Tatsuki was a pleasant surprise for Yuusuke though. Her reiki-levels had lots of potential to grow stronger and adapt. It was second only to Ichigo's in that aspect. Yuusuke surmised that since Tatsuki actively anticipated in Karate-sessions and was a martial artist in general it rolled out the red carpet for her to become a powerful reiki-fighter.

Perhaps Yuusuke should slap the spirit cuffs on the girl once he helped her bring out her energy, and somewhat control it at will. Yeah that would work.

Yuusuke also decided to do the same for the others. It would allow Orihime's, Tatsuki's, and Chad's reiki-levels to grow exponentially, as well as making things easier for his nephew to control his A-class reserves of reiki. Ichigo needed to get the hang of taming small doses of his reiki before he even considered of mastering the whole ounce of that ocean amount of reiki of his.

Once Ichigo did though he would be on Sensui's level, and with the Spirit Cuffs on him there was a good chance Ichigo could be rolling with the likes of Yuusuke and the boys, Hiei and Kurama, in two or three years' time, give or take.

But that was for another time.

Right now Yuusuke led the kids and Rukia outside of an ominous forest with tall thick eerie trees. Orihime's strong sense of the supernatural side of the world were kicking in like crazy, basically screaming at the innocent girl to stay away from the terrifying woods Yuusuke had led them to.

"What is this place Yuusuke-san? It gives me the creeps," Tatsuki admitted, trembling slightly.

"This'll be your second and last itsy bitsy test. Think of it as a trial run before the real shit starts," Yuusuke began to explain as he held Ichigo's physical body underneath his arm like it weighed nothing. He jerked his thumb in the direction of the woods, "Navigate your way to the other side of these creepy ass woods known as the dark woods, the turf of some of the eldest demons in history. It'll be easy peasy lemon squeezy to avoid the demons in there as long as you newbies rely on your spirit awareness."

"So basically it's a marathon race," Tatsuki deadpanned and Yuusuke grinned.

"Yeah. Get to the tree on the other side of these creepy ass woods, and the real training will commence!" Yuusuke told them.

"Ha. I'm game for this. I didn't make it to the semi-finals in the annual karate tournament to chicken out on something as trivial as a race."

"That's the spirit," Yuusuke grinned, receiving a firm nod from Tatsuki while Orihime was still shaking out of fear from the vibes she was getting from the forest. Seeing the girl's fright Yuusuke strolled over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving her a reassuring grin.

"Don't worry, as long as you use your spirit awareness as a compass you'll make your way through this in no time at all without encountering any baddies. Easy," Yuusuke said to the girl and the amber-haired girl turned big curious brown eyes onto him, a touch of fear still in her eyes.

"Ha! Who needs that stuff? Everybody knows the quickest way through a thick forest like this is to bulldoze straight forward!" The fearless orange haired boy roared courageously, getting deadpanned looks from Tatsuki and Rukia while Yuusuke found it hard to hold in his snickers, "Come on guys, let's do this!" Letting out a war-cry, Ichigo raced forward into the creepy woods like a madman.

The two sensible women in Tatsuki and Rukia both blinked their eyes with bizarre looks on their faces. Shaking their heads, the girls each murmured a simultaneous, "Idiot."

Chad shrugged his shoulders, "Hm." Then he hurtled forward in pursuit of his friend Ichigo.

'Kurosaki-kun's amazing,' Orihime mused dreamily, the wind blowing her hair, 'Not even these scary woods can faze him,' A look of resolution appeared on Orihime's features, 'Right. Then I can't get scared either. I can't be a burden to him.' With a gulp, Orihime bravely galloped into the woods with the fearless shinigami on her mind.

"Orihime!" Tatsuki shouted, darting after her friend, "Wait up!"

"Hahahahahaha!" Yuusuke cackled insanely, "That boy," Yuusuke wiped a tear from his eye from laughing so intensely, "He's got my noggin alright," A smirk crossed Yuusuke's features, "Like uncle, like nephew, eh?"

"Indeed it isn't hard to see where Ichigo gets his recklessness from," Rukia deadpanned, trying not to scowl at the strange forest. Just what was up with it? It was like it was hiding its presence from her. Either that or Rukia's spirit awareness had become shoddy, which she wasn't going to admit. Ever. Period!

Yuusuke stuck his tongue out at Rukia in a cheeky manner, "Ha. I like to think of it as bravery. Sport's inherited the heart of a lion from his old uncle Yuusuke!" Yuusuke pointed his thumb at himself in a proud manner, getting Rukia to roll her eyes, "C'mon, let's wait for the twerps on the other side."

"About that…" Rukia started.

"Yeah."

"I fear I can barely feel the ominous vibes coming from the woods."

"Well that doesn't sound too jolly," Yuusuke mumbled, cupping his chin with his index finger and thumb, a serious look on his features, 'I wonder, could it have something to do with that shell she's currently donning,' Yuusuke mused. He would have to consult Kisuke about that later.

"Let's not concern ourselves with that for now, little missy," Yuusuke said, giving Rukia a reassuring grin, "Right now, let's fly on over to the other side of this thing and wait for the kiddies there." Yuusuke turned his back on Rukia, squatting down and offering his back to the girl.

Rukia nodded her head, an impassive look marking her face as she hopped on Yuusuke's back, clamping her tiny knees on his hips, crossing her legs around his torso, and placing her hands on his shoulders, "Thank you. Your kindness has superseded my expectations."

Yuusuke turned his head over his shoulder to flash Rukia a thumbs-up, and a grin of cheesiness, "Ha. Lending a hand to the poor is what I do, Rukia," Yuusuke massaged his nostrils with his index finger, "Charity doesn't pay."

"Hmph!" Rukia pouted, turning her head away from the back of Yuusuke's head.

"…Huh? Is it something I said?"

XxX

(Inside of the Woods)

Ichigo, leading the pack of wannabe warriors, was dashing forward with one thing on his mind, 'Just go straight. And I'll make it outta this creepy ass forest in no time flat!'

'If I do what Urameshi-san says to do, I can make it through this! Then I can be of help to my friends,' Orihime mused resolutely, keeping her sights firmly locked on Kurosaki-kun for the time being as if looking for someone to give her strength.

'I can do this, I can do this, I can do this,' Tatsuki repeated mentally, a fire of determination lighting up her eyes.

"Hm." Chad hummed.

Odds looks suddenly marked Tatsuki's and Ichigo's faces, as Yuusuke seemingly, and effortlessly cruised past them all, carrying Rukia on his back and Ichigo's physical body underneath his arm, "We'll be waiting to get this party started on the other side. Remember, if you're a Mr or Miss Smarty Pants you'll switch your spirit awareness on auto pilot and let it guide ya through these woods," Yuusuke then slowed down to fall in line with Ichigo, whispering something only he could hear, "Don't trust a fortune cookie." That only left a confused look on Ichigo's face.

"Smell ya later," Yuusuke then jetted away from his would-be students at the speed of a moving sport's car, leaving dust trailing in his wake.

"Wow! Urameshi-san's really speedy," Orihime awed, still speeding forward as quickly as she could, the look of resolution on her face not wavering for a second, "Right! I can't fail this, and let Urameshi-san down!"

"As long as we use our spirit awareness like a compass to guide us through this creepy place like Yuusuke-san said then we should be fine," Tatsuki said, sprinting forward and spotting a turn which differed from the straight route Ichigo said he would take.

'Hmph. What's with the spirit awareness stuff, everyone knows the quickest way through a forest is to go straight ahead!' Ichigo mused logically, speeding forward without looking around to take a turn and easily vanishing from his classmates' sights. Orihime stopped for a second, looked around, and took a left turn before continuing on her run.

Tatsuki followed Orihime and Chad took a right turn.

XxX

"Thirty minutes longer and it'll be two hours already, man I sure hope I don't have to play rescuer for any of 'em," Yuusuke joked, sitting next to the same tree Genkai had him and her candidates meet at the time with Rukia who sat next to him on her knees.

"Do you really think this was wise to send four kids with little training into such a dangerous forest Yuusuke-san? I have no doubt in my mind that dummy Ichigo will come out unscratched but what about the others? They are normal humans for the most part," Rukia said, watching the trees of the dark forest she and Yuusuke had ventured out of over an hour ago.

Yuusuke waved his hand in a carefree manner, looking up at the sky with a grin on his face, "Meh. No probs. Orihime and Tatsuki won't run into trouble," Yuusuke folded his arms behind his head, "They've both got a strong sense of spirit awareness, so much so they might as well close their eyes, and go on cruise mode."

Rukia looked at Yuusuke in a curious manner, slightly intrigued at his sink or swim method of training Ichigo and his classmates. If Yuusuke's risky method was to work the four could end up maturing not just physically, but also mentally at a much faster rate in comparison to how others matured in both aspects.

Mainly because they'd be able to identify where danger was using the experience they each possess, and they'd know when they were outclassed to the point where they'd avoid going in that direction of the overwhelming opponent which would've awaited them if they carried on moving in his/her direction.

Yuusuke's method was quite genius if Rukia said so herself.

Yuusuke opened his eyes, two subtle reiki-signatures moving out of the forest and toward him and Rukia, "Heh. Two little worms are early for the party."

Rukia raised an eyebrow, but Yuusuke only lazily pointed to the running reiki-signatures. Rukia followed his finger, and almost gasped at the sight of Tatsuki and Orihime dashing over to them and stopping at their feet. The two school girls propped their hands on their knees, breathing heavily from the duration of running through a thick forested area such as that.

"Congrats, you two are the first ones to reach this point." Yuusuke praised.

Orihime looked up, blinking her eyes while pointing her index finger at herself, "Tatsuki-chan and I won?" She asked for some kind of verification and got just that in the form of a nod from Yuusuke's head, making both her and Tatsuki's eyes light up, "Yay/Alright!" Orihime and Tatsuki cheered simultaneously, grabbing each other's hands before embracing each other in a hug of sisterly love.

"Well done. I take it that must've been rather difficult for you two," Rukia said, laughing.

"Hmm!" Orihime agreed vigorously, "Every time Tatsuki-chan and I got near a scary monster my senses were like, 'Beep, beep!' Hehe!" Orihime giggled at her impersonation of an alarm, "So we just went in a direction where we didn't feel any danger at all, and ta-da, we're made it here first! I'm so happy!"

"Glad to see you were able to get the swing of it as easy as pie." Yuusuke said coolly, looking at Orihime and Tatsuki with a smile on his face, "Looks like I found myself some worthy students, eh?"

"Roger, Urameshi-sensei!" Orihime cheered, saluting her master in an adorable manner, "I promise I'll do my best to become stronger as your disciple!" Two beads of sweat each rolled off of the back of Tatsuki and Rukia's heads at the ditzy girl's energetic declaration.

"Good. You keep reaching for the stars now, you hear?" Yuusuke asked.

"Hmm!" Orihime nodded her head firmly, a cute determined expression marking her face while another reiki-signature advanced towards them.

XxX

(Inside of the Dark Woods)

"See. I knew surging straight forward was the quickest way to go," Ichigo grumbled, moving a tree bine out of his face to walk into a wide open berth of space, "Now where are Uncle Wolf and Rukia at? I figured they'd be here first at the speed my uncle was moving at. Argh." Ichigo sighed deeply, scratching his head while looking for that tree Yuusuke told him and the others to meet him at.

"**Ah. You brave fool for walking into Baldock's territory**," A dry look appeared on Ichigo's face from someone obvious lack of grammar. Looking up, Ichigo's deadpanned look didn't disappear upon spotting a navy blue skinned bat with white hair framing his oval shaped face, crimson red eyes, and his legs were painted dark green oddly enough.

"Uh. Look at what the freak control called in." Ichigo quipped dryly, his hand gripping the hilt of his nameless Zanpakuto.

"**Baldock eat you up!"**

XxX

"Hey, Big-guy, how'd the hike go?" Yuusuke asked casually, getting Tatsuki and Orihime to jump in surprise before turning around to see an exhausted Chad running up to them, a bead of sweat running down the side of his cheek and his normally composed, relaxed breathing was ragged from the constant running he was doing.

"It was, retiring Yuusuke-sensei." Chad murmured.

"Sado-kun's here!" Orihime chirped, "Now all we're waiting for is Kurosaki-kun and we'll be good to go!"

A smile graced Yuusuke's features, "I couldn't have spoken it any better myself."

XxX

(Ichigo vs Baldock)

Ichigo and the freaky man-beast bat creature had been duking it out for a good while now, well over ten minutes. Baldock managed to swipe Ichigo's shoulders a couple of times, sliced Ichigo's left peck, cut both sides of Ichigo's hakama(pants), around the knee-areas, and grazed Ichigo's left cheek slightly, the evidence was all over Ichigo. As for actual damage only that graze the bat connected on Ichigo's cheek had been the only time the bat had actually inflicted damage on Ichigo.

The blood that poured down Ichigo's cheek was proof that Baldock's attack had landed on the fearless one.

"**Ha! You can't keep up with Baldock! Baldock eat you up now!"**

Ichigo just stayed focus on the task at hand without letting his angrier cloud his judgements, his arms were crossed over his chest as his eyes drifted from side to side in their job to track Baldock who was blurring around him.

Ichigo's eyes must've been doing a good job keeping a track of Baldock's (faster than the eye can see) movements because Ichigo stepped to the side the moment the 'invisible bat' to the _normal human eye _dashed toward him, flying past him after Ichigo had moved to the side. Goosebumps tickled Baldock's skin. His meal was proving to be a spicy one.

"**Baldock enjoy eating you up."**

Baldock flew at Ichigo at high speeds once again, a sadistic smirk forming across his bat-features at the prospect of sucking on Ichigo's flesh. Now was the time to get his meal. Ichigo was too slow to dodge Baldock's attacks. Baldock's victory was assured. Baldock could almost taste Ichigo until he _blinked_…

Where'd Baldock's feast go?

"**He disappeared!" **Baldock exclaimed in horror. A forceful thrust of a foot suddenly nailed Baldock in his lower back, "**Aaaaahh**!" Baldock screamed frighteningly, Ichigo was now above him and driving him into the ground with his right foot in the driver's seat. The ground itself was ruptured from the impact of Ichigo smashing Baldock into the ground.

"Phew. I thought that would never end. Now I'm gonna have dreams of a crazy bat zooming around like an aeroplane," Ichigo yawned, rubbing his orange spiky locks.

"**H-How can you move faster than Baldock**?" Baldock asked fearfully, trying to crawl away from Ichigo on his backside. Oh why oh why was he suddenly feeling a case of déjà vu.

Ichigo just looked at Baldock which caused the scared bat to flinch, "Oh yeah. Flying fast was the only thing you had going for you, eh?" Ichigo said, a little grin of bashfulness forming across his features, "Man I can't tell ya how much time I've wasted just trying to memorize your attacks friend."

"**P-Please s-spare B-Baldock. B-Baldock s-sorry, m-master**," Baldock apologized in a pleading fashion, bowing his head to Ichigo in the hopes the orange haired fearless, speedy boy wouldn't slay his ass, or beat him down like a certain other boy did to him three hundred years ago.

The fearless warrior shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah sure."

"**O-oh t-thank y-you m-master, a t-thousand t-thank-y-yous! B-Baldock be a good boy now**!" Baldock promised, bowing his head to Ichigo rapidly, a frown enveloping Ichigo's features.

"You don't have to call me that y'know, the name's Kurosaki, Ichigo Kurosaki," Ichigo introduced himself in James Bonds-esque. A bit of his uncle Yuusuke's personality had rubbed off on him over the years.

"**O-oh of course your majesty. Baldock understands. Baldock be good. He promises, Ichigo-sama**!" Baldock cried, jetting away from his new lord as fast as he could, leaving Ichigo standing there with a dumbfounded look on his face**. **

"Okay, what else is new?"

XxX

"It's been over thirty minutes since we made it out of that forest! What's taking Ichigo so long!?" Tatsuki ranted while Orihime and Rukia became increasingly worried for Ichigo's safely. Chad was contemplating whether or not he should run back in the woods and find his friend.

'Ichigo, you fool! Don't tell me you ran into trouble like a big dummy!' Rukia ranted mentally, subconsciously placing her hand where her heart was.

"Hm." Chad grunted as he nudged Yuusuke who was lying on his side while digging out his ear.

"Yeah?" Yuusuke asked lackadaisically.

"Do you think Ichigo has run into a demon, Yuusuke-sensei?" Chad questioned, a little bit of anxiety dipping into his voice while Rukia, Tatsuki, and Orihime all turned to him with startled expressions marking their faces, Rukia and Orihime also gasping.

"Yeah. It's about as likely as a dog giving chase to a speeding truck," Yuusuke yawned while looks of fear marked Orihime's, Rukia's, Chad's, and Tatsuki's faces.

"Kurosaki-kun's in trouble!" Orihime panicked. Thinking with her heart, the kind girl galloped toward the dark woods in the desperate hope she could save Ichigo like he saved her during the night of which her brother attacked her.

"Orihime wait u-!" Tatsuki's plead was cut short; Yuusuke speedily appearing in front of Orihime in calm indifference made her gasp, 'Yuusuke-sensei's so fast… I… didn't even see him move!' Tatsuki awed, turning her head to look at the spot which was once preoccupied by Yuusuke, seeing only a cloud-shaped Yuusuke slowly fading out of existence.

"Hey, hold your horses," Yuusuke mumbled commandingly.

"Urameshi-sensei," Orihime whispered, "Kurosaki-kun might be hurt, I hav-."

Yuusuke stopped Orihime speaking by touching her shoulder sharply, but comfortingly, "Don't be such a worry wart. Sport's a tough cookie. No weak ass E-class demon is forcing him to kick the bucket. And you can betcha bottom dollar that's the truth!"

"How can you be so confident?!" Tatsuki roared at Yuusuke who held up his hands in a placating manner, "Ichigo's your nephew, you should be worried sick about him Yuusuke-san!"

"Hey, it's because we're family is why I know Sport's more than polished enough to come through this, I know the kid like the back of my hand," Yuusuke defended himself with a pout on his face as he held up his index finger.

"If Ichigo dies because of this, Yuusuke-san," Rukia mumbled, Chad, Yuusuke, Orihime, and Tatsuki looking at the girl to see her head lowered enough for the bangs of her longish hair to cast a shadow over her eyes. Her head then shot up, her angry expression masking her worry, "I'll never forgive you!"

Dead silence was issued after Rukia's strong claim.

A frown came to Yuusuke's face, 'Why do I feel like the bad-guy here?' Yuusuke sighed.

"Hey, am I late or what?!" Rukia's, Orihime's, and Tatsuki's eyes widened at the sound of Ichigo's thunderous voice. The females and Chad all turned their heads in the direction of the woods to see Ichigo happily surging his way toward them. The eyes of Orihime and Rukia lit up in recognition and relief seeing that Ichigo had made up to the meeting point safe and sound.

"Ichigo/Kurosaki-kun!"

Orihime raced toward Ichigo, causing the teen to back up a bit out of instinct as she bounced up delightedly in front of him with a bright smile on her face. The amber-haired girl held her arms behind her back and smiled at Ichigo, "You're here. I'm so glad!"

Ichigo scratched his head dumbly, "Yeah. I suddenly remembered reading a fortune cookie that said going straight ain't always the fastest way."

"Hahahahahahahaha!" Yuusuke's guffaw made Ichigo, Tatsuki, Chad, and Orihime stared at him in a bizarre manner, "You crack me up, Sport. Tell me you didn't cross-paths with that fruit bat by any chance," Yuusuke smiled at Ichigo in a knowing manner, "You did, didn't ya?"

"You mean Baldock?" Ichigo guessed, his answer coming in the form of a louder chortle from his uncle, "Yeah. What of it? He was fast but nothing compared to you or those other shinigami-guys. I gave him the old one, two, and he went down," Ichigo explained casually, Yusuke's laughter softening to snickers.

"Oh you're amazing Kurosaki-kun! I'm so happy you made it here safely! Now we can all stay together!" Orihime chirped brightly, making Ichigo nod his head her way with a soft smile on his face before Rukia nimbly strolled over to him with her head lowered.

"Rukia?" Ichigo wondered. Rukia used Ichigo's knee as a trampoline to proper herself to his height and smack him right on top of his orange spiky hair, much to his annoyance, "OUCH! What the hell was that for, you crazy hag?!" Ichigo raged.

"For being a stupid dummy by not heeding Yuusuke-san's advice of using your spirit awareness to navigate your way through the dark woods, you idiot!"

"Gimme a break will ya, I still made it through those woods easily, right?"

"Only barely, you fool! You're just lucky you ran into a weakling!"

"You would know about that huh?"

"Shut up, Ichigo! That's no way to talk to the one who just spent half an hour worrying about your reckless self!"

"In case you haven't noticed it I'm the protector and you're the victim! You don't have the right to talk! _SO_ why don't you take your tiny ass, scurry off in some corner, curl up in a ball, and cry, "Protect me, protect me, like you're supposed to!"

"How dare you talk to me like that? I happened to be a member of the Gotei 13 if you didn't realize it! I have more say in my pinkie finger than you have in your whole body, dummy!"

Ichigo's response to that was to place his thumb on his nose and stick his tongue out at Rukia, slithering it around like a worm while the petite shinigami glared at him. The other females of the group of aspiring warriors and Chad each watched the quarreling duo bizarrely, while Yuusuke just wanted to burst out laughing.

"Damn. I could make a fortune selling tickets for suckers to come watch the Sport-and-Rukia show!"

* * *

**Thank you for reading this chapter. Don't forget to comment to let me know what you thought of the Ichigo and Rukia show. I'm now Thugs Bunny 009, and I'm signing off, peace, and have a nice day.**


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